Ms JODIE HARRISON (Charlestown—Minister for Women, Minister for Seniors, and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault)- I support the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Planning System Reforms) Bill 2025. The bill represents the next step in the Minns Labor Government's plan to deliver a faster, fairer and more modern planning system for New South Wales. It is a commonsense and long-overdue reform that will help get more homes built more quickly, while improving certainty and transparency for builders, councils and communities. For nearly 50 years, the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 has provided the foundation for housing, infrastructure and energy delivery across New South Wales. But over time the system built on that framework has had so many amendments bolted onto it that it has become unwieldy, complex, rigid and bogged down in process.
What was once designed to enable growth has too often become a barrier to it. The level of assessment required for even simple developments has become disproportionate to their impact, holding up construction and delaying the delivery of the homes and jobs our State needs. The result is that not enough homes are being built. The consequences are being felt in communities across New South Wales. Families, young people and downsizers are being priced out of the areas they grew up in. Many are being forced to move away from family networks, jobs and essential services. In communities like mine in the electorate of Charlestown, we see those pressures every day. The cost of housing is rising, supply is tight and the pace of new development has not kept up with demand.
Local families are struggling to find suitable homes near where they work and where their children go to school. Renters are finding it harder to secure affordable accommodation and older residents who want to downsize are forced to look outside their communities to do so. People want to stay connected to the places they know, but our planning system has not made that easy. Our Government is determined to fix that. The New South Wales planning system reforms bill 2025 modernises the 50-year-old Act to ensure that our planning framework is fit for the future. It delivers faster decisions, reduces duplication and creates a system that is focused on outcomes rather than red tape.
Since coming to office in March 2023, our Government has introduced some of the boldest housing and planning reforms in our State's history. I acknowledge that that has been due to the hard work of the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces. We have delivered the low- and mid-rise housing policy, the Transport Oriented Development Program, the in-fill affordable housing bonus scheme, the Housing Taskforce, the Housing Delivery Authority and the NSW Housing Pattern Book. Those reforms are already delivering results. Development application lodgements and approvals are up 28 per cent while assessment time frames are down 24 per cent, and New South Wales now has the most homes under construction in the country.
The planning system reforms bill builds on that progress by resetting the framework that underpins it. In areas like the electorate of Charlestown that change will make a real difference. Our community is growing. We are seeing new generations of families move in, young people entering the workforce and older residents wanting to stay local. We need more housing options that reflect that diversity. We need apartments and townhouses near transport, services and employment, as well as family homes in established suburbs. But we also need a planning system that allows those homes to be built without unnecessary delay.
The current process is often too slow, confusing and frustrating for everyone involved. Residents, builders, councils and community groups all deserve more clarity and consistency. This bill will make the planning system quicker, simpler and fairer. It establishes the Development Coordination Authority, which will bring together experts from across government to provide coordinated advice on development applications and planning proposals, rather than piecemeal advice from agencies, as is currently the case. This reform replaces a system that has often been fragmented and slow, ensuring applicants and councils have a clear point of contact and consistent, timely advice throughout the assessment process.
The bill also enshrines the Housing Delivery Authority in legislation, giving it an enduring mandate to deliver housing across the State. This ensures that the Government maintains a permanent and coordinated role in overseeing major housing projects and facilitating concurrent rezonings and development assessments. That change will help unlock thousands of new homes by cutting duplication and uncertainty. The bill introduces a new targeted assessment pathway to bridge the gap between a full merit assessment and a complying development. It will apply to developments where strategic planning and community consultation have already taken place, allowing low-risk, well-considered projects to proceed through a faster, outcomes-based process.
The complying development pathway will also be expanded so that councils can approve small variations to applications within 10 days, or the application will be deemed approved. That means a proposal will no longer be held up for months because a verandah is a few millimetres too wide or a carport sits slightly outside the standard. It is a practical fix that will save time and money without compromising community or environmental safeguards. These reforms will help councils like Lake Macquarie City Council and City of Newcastle Council in my electorate to manage growth more efficiently while maintaining community confidence in the planning system. The reforms will also help local businesses and tradespeople, who too often bear the cost of long approval time frames and uncertain outcomes. When the process is predictable and timely, everyone benefits.
The bill strengthens accountability and clarity across the system. It introduces improved standards for development applications to ensure assessments are proportionate to the scale and complexity of a project. Large and complex developments will still undergo rigorous scrutiny, but minor works will no longer face the same drawn‑out process. The bill standardises conditions to speed up construction once approvals are granted, and provides for expanded review and appeal processes to resolve disputes more efficiently. These changes will give builders and home owners the certainty they need to plan, invest and deliver projects on time.
The bill amends the objects of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act so that, for the first time, they will include housing delivery, proportionality and climate resilience, recognising that housing supply and environmental responsibility must go hand in hand. It reflects our Government's commitment to sustainable development, delivering the homes we need while protecting the environment we value. A single statewide community participation plan will also be introduced to provide consistent consultation requirements across New South Wales. At present, a patchwork of local policies has created confusion and inconsistency about how and when communities can have their say. This reform will ensure that everyone, regardless of where they live, understands how they can contribute to the planning process and what to expect.
Another key aspect of the bill is cutting red tape and unnecessary duplication. It removes the regionally significant development pathway and regional planning panels that have slowed decision-making and created overlapping responsibilities. Determination powers will return to local councils and local planning panels, supported by joint panels in areas that need them. This restores local accountability while removing layers of bureaucracy that have caused costly delays. The bill also updates appeal and review processes to encourage disputes to be resolved outside the Land and Environment Court, saving time and expense for both applicants and councils. This reform is about more than streamlining processes; it is about modernising how we think about planning itself.
For too long, the system has been focused on process rather than progress. It has measured success by how many boxes are ticked rather than how many homes are built. That culture needs to change. The bill creates a framework for proportionate, risk-based decision-making, focusing resources where they are most needed—on complex, high-impact developments—while allowing simpler, low-risk projects to move ahead quickly. It is a modern, flexible system that balances progress with protection. In Charlestown, that will mean more housing options for local families, more clarity for small builders and greater certainty for councils. It will help ensure that when we talk about growing our community, we are not talking about growth at any cost but about building homes that are well designed, sustainable and close to the services people rely on.
The bill will allow us to plan for a future where young people can afford to stay in the area they grew up in, where key workers can live near their jobs, and where older residents can downsize without leaving their community. The Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Planning System Reforms) Bill 2025 is a landmark piece of legislation and a necessary reset for a planning system that has become outdated and overly complex. I recognise the immense and thoughtful work of the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces and his staff in the development of the bill and all their work to overcome the housing crisis we are experiencing.
The bill will make planning decisions faster, clearer and more consistent, and will restore public confidence in how development occurs across our State. Since coming to office, our Government has been clear that the housing crisis will not be solved by a single policy or program. It requires bold reform, sustained investment and a culture change in how we plan and build. This bill is a key part of that work. The people of New South Wales want action on housing, and this bill is absolutely part of that. I commend the bill to the House.
