A back-to-basics approach prioritising lowering costs and accelerating project assessments, complemented by targeted support for emerging industries critical to the global energy transition, are the central themes of the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA's (CME) Federal Government Pre-Budget Submission (PBS).
Released today, the PBS contains more than 90 recommendations that provide a blueprint for the Federal Government to reverse years of falling productivity and attract the significant investment required to maintain Australia's standing as a resources powerhouse.
CME Acting Chief Executive Officer Adrienne LaBombard said industry confidence had been rocked by a wave of damaging legislative changes and regulatory decisions coinciding with falling commodity prices and increasingly fierce competition for international capital.
"While countries all over the world are jockeying for investment in resources vital to decarbonise the planet, plans for growth in WA have given way to fears for survival," Ms LaBombard said.
"The reality is Australia is becoming a more difficult place to do business at precisely the time we can least afford to be putting up roadblocks to new projects.
"An onerous new industrial relations regime, uncertainty over the future of Nature Positive laws and persistent challenges navigating complex and duplicative regulatory processes are all dragging down confidence.
"Streamlining end-to-end approval processes should be the highest priority for the Australian Government to unlock investment in transformational projects, regardless of industry."
CME has recommended unwinding recent IR reforms, specifically the "single interest" stream of multi-employer bargaining and the ability for unions to initiate bargaining without demonstrating majority employee support.
CME also supports pausing stage two of the Nature Positive reforms, currently before the Senate, to allow for further consultation to ensure the laws deliver on their stated intention of improving outcomes for both the environment and for business.
With Federal Parliament scheduled to sit for two weeks in February, CME has called for a focus on legislating proposed production tax incentives for critical mineral refining and hydrogen production.
"These incentives are supported by industry and form the central plank of the Future Made in Australia plan," Ms LaBombard said.
"Delaying passage of the legislation until after the election - or worse, failing to pass the measures altogether - would significantly harm efforts to attract investment into new industries that have no shortage of international suitors."
CME has also recommended developing a new green iron production tax credit that is stackable with the hydrogen production tax incentive to further encourage investment in one of Australia's most promising decarbonisation initiatives.
"WA-made green iron has the potential to offset global emissions equivalent to every tonne of CO2 produced in Australia each year, create nearly 20,000 jobs and generate $74 billion in economic activity by 2050," Ms LaBombard.
"Commercialising the new technology and processes required is neither cheap nor easy, but the pay-off if Australia can get it right is immense."
Other recommendations include cutting the corporate tax rate to a more globally-competitive 25 per cent - or introducing a broad-based, permanent investment allowance - and further Federal investment in drastically speeding up the build-out of low-emission, reliable and affordable electricity infrastructure in WA.
Read CME's full 2025-26 Federal Government Pre-Budget Submission here.
