From today's Beach ann

For that investment to occur, the industry must have confidence in a supportive regulatory environment,otherwise our domestic energy transition is at risk of failure.Gas projects are now experiencing extensive and costly delays in the Environment Plan approvals process.According to the regulator, only five applications have received approval in the last twelve months and thereare over forty applications under review. A process that may have previously taken months is now taking closeto two years.The current ambiguity and complexity of the Environmental Plan approval process is a major risk to newprojects. This will only add to the growing supply constraints. It is increasingly the primary key inhibitor to whatshould be a well-functioning energy sector.We call on the Federal Government to urgently act to address the current regulations so that compliance isunambiguous, and when approvals are granted, that project operators can proceed with certainty.Instead of the current regulatory uncertainty and market interventions, there needs to be a focused pathwayto get more gas to our domestic customers, including incentivising exploration and development of local gasnear existing infrastructure.