NSW Labor is rushing to overhaul planning laws, which environmentalists and others say is a gift to developers and would make it easier to approve fossil fuel projects.
The government’s , introduced on September 17, are being promoted as simplifying the planning process to help housing approvals. However, environmental organisations and legal experts say the proposed changes would be a gift to dodgy developers.
Lock the Gate Alliance (LTGA) said Labor is pushing the “biggest overhaul of planning laws in 45 years” under the guise of “housing reform”, but that “it will have a huge impact on coal and gas projects”.
The proposed changes would also mean fossil fuel developments could be fast-tracked, community voices ignored and environmental protections severely weakened.
There has been no community consultation whatsoever but Labor wants it passed this month. are pushing for the bill to be taken to a committee.
, said on October 8 that Labor is investing $23.9 million to “fast-track thousands of new homes in regional areas” to support local councils to “deliver infrastructure and strategic planning to support housing growth”.
Nic Clyde from LTGA told a rally of more than 100 people outside the NSW Parliament on October 14 that the bill contains “a very serious corruption risk”.
City of Sydney Deputy Lord Mayor Jess Miller said the proposed new laws “will remove community input” and that it was a “great day for developers”. Miller said the urgent need for new housing is being used “as an excuse to remove community safeguards”. Proper planning is important, she said, but the proposed new laws “mean an absolute obliteration of environmental standards and public input”.
Nick Seton from Australian Parents for Climate Action said they “open the floodgates for environmental destruction” as the proposed changes “centralise power, introduce dangerous fast-tracking of projects and make it illegal to even consider climate impacts in new developments”.
Seton said the bill must go to a multi-party committee “for comprehensive re-consideration”.
Janet Walk, from the Mudgee Region Action Group, said the changes “effectively disenfranchises” communities but added that they can be stopped if “all of us to organise in our communities” and keep up the pressure.
said while the bill will badly impact environment protection in a time of climate crisis.
She said the changes “looks like a gift to developers” under the guise of cutting “red tape”. Labor is proposing to establish a one stop shop — the Development Coordination Authority — something that will threaten the integrity of the planning system.
“This new super-office will be responsible for every single development application or planning proposal … [and] remove the critical independent expert voices in government agencies that raise serious and legitimate concerns,” . “Limiting and filtering expert independent advice is never a good plan.”
The Greens are pushing for firm requirements that 30% of new builds are affordable homes and 10% public homes. “Setting up the planning system to reward developers, so they can profit from building houses, won’t fix the housing affordability crisis,” she said last month.
Jackie Scruby, the independent Member for Pittwater, and Jeremy Buckingham, from the Legalise Cannabis Party, also addressed the rally.