“The legislation should deliver up to A$6.9 billion (US$4.5 billion) a year in economic benefit by speeding up decisions on whether gas facilities, mines, renewable energy projects and homes can be built,” the government said.

It said typical environmental approval times have more than doubled in the last two decades to over two years.

Australia is a major exporter of liquefied natural gas, metals and coal, and is working with allies, including the US to ramp up production of critical minerals and break China’s dominance of that industry.

The country is also mired in a housing shortage and trying to pivot rapidly to wind and solar power, while biodiversity is in decline.

Environment minister Murray Watt said years of wrangling over new legislation should end.

“We’ve seen housing, renewables and other projects strangled in red tape at a time that we desperately need them delivered,” he said.

Watt said he aimed to pass the legislation through both houses of parliament by the end of the year.

That will require votes in the Senate from either the centre-right Coalition or the left-wing Greens.

The Coalition wants the bill to be more business friendly and the Greens seek stricter environmental protection.

Watt, from the centre-left Labor party, said he was negotiating with both.

The Business Council of Australia welcomed the reform as an opportunity to fix a broken system but its CEO, Bran Black, said changes, including greater clarity around greenhouse gas reporting requirements, were needed to make sure it works for the economy and the environment.

Watt said the bill aimed to provide clear definitions of “unacceptable impacts” and higher penalties for breaches.

It would also establish an independent National Environmental Protection Agency to enforce rules.

Clean Energy Council CEO Jackie Trad called it a step in the right direction. Renewable energy project approval times have blown out in recent years.

“We cannot afford to wait another five years to secure this,” Trad said.