‘Cashed-up activists’ should not be able to hold up developments, Australia's resources minister says

Keith Pitt says review of environmental laws must look at how to 'streamline' assessment processes for major projects

The federal minister for resources, water and northern Australia, Keith Pitt, says "cashed-up activists" should not be able to hold up developments that have been approved by a government agency "simply because they can afford to".

In an interview with Guardian Australia, Pitt said Australia had "some of the strongest environmental protections in the world" and the government had "no intention to change how strongly we protect the environment". But he said a review of Australia's environmental laws needed to consider how assessment processes could be "streamlined" for companies developing major projects.