The federal government has proposed establishing the national regulator, which would take the place of existing authorities under the jurisdiction of Australia's state governments, by January 2012.
"The state government [of Western Australia] believes in an efficient, consistent and fair system of petroleum administration, which is why it is opposed to the federal government's proposal," Moore said in a statement Thursday.
Western Australia has objected to relinquishing regulatory control over its vast gas resources. The state hosts the majority of Australia's known gas resources, at an estimated 135 Tcf, mostly in offshore fields.
Moore said an independent report on the federal proposal, commissioned by the Western Australian government, had suggested Canberra should improve the efficiency of regulatory approvals by strengthening its role as an auditor of petroleum activity, rather than adopt the new national regulator model.
"WA proposes the establishment of a federal agency to ensure existing regulators comply with best practice regulation," Moore said. "States would act as designated authorities and administer regulations regardless of whether the offshore operations were in Commonwealth or state waters; the federal government would audit the regulators to ensure their competency and efficiency."
Moore said best practice regulation was dependent on the entire regulatory framework working well, not just the architecture of the regulator.
"The federal government's current proposal only alters the structure of the regulator -- it does not change the rules which underpin it or the way companies are meant to provide information," he added. "The current system is not broken and has worked well for the past 50 years. We should fix those areas which are cumbersome or outdated rather than jettisoning the entire regulatory regime."
The proposal has met with a guarded response from the local petroleum industry. "If the national regulator results in a much greater degree of efficiency, then we support it," Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association Chief Executive Belinda Robinson said in September. "If in fact it's just another way of regulating and imposing costs on the industry, then we'd be a little more sceptical," she added at the time.
