Housing approval plan risks environment, corruption
Proposed changes to speed up housing approvals in Australia’s most expensive property market also pose environmental and corruption risks and will face increased scrutiny.
Reform of the “mixed” planning system focused on building more homes will be debated and possibly amended in the NSW parliament on Wednesday.
While the changes are ostensibly focused on housing, farmers have similar concerns about renewable energy projects, causing concern in the regions, while green groups worry that mining practices could rapidly advance.
Opposition Leader Mark Speakman flagged off several changes, including reviews and other oversight by the Housing Delivery Authority, a recently created minister-controlled panel that can bypass council approvals.
The coalition also wants mines, incinerators, transmission lines and wind and solar power plants to be excluded from the planned targeted assessment pathway.
“Our changes are practical, responsible and aim to reduce red tape while holding government to account,” Mr Speakman said in a statement on Wednesday. he said.
National leader Dugald Saunders said the government should provide clearer safeguards on non-residential approvals.
“There are ongoing issues and concerns in regional NSW due to the proliferation of renewable energy sources and the cumulative impact that failed deployment is having on our communities,” he said.
The coalition aims to maintain district and regional planning panels, which the planning minister has warned will take on average 100 days longer than local planning panels.
“We need to make sure these new homes are well designed and well built, and we need to get them approved and built as quickly as possible,” Planning Minister Paul Scully told parliament in September. he said.
He said numerous changes in the decades since planning laws came into force had led to a complex and cumbersome system that was “obsessed with relatively minor issues”.
The government’s bill formalizes the Housing Delivery Authority in legislation, creating a new authority to centralize decisions across government agencies and allowing minor changes without a full development application.
But a briefing note from the Environmental Defenders Office warns that significant changes risk increasing environmental and social impacts and increasing corruption.
“When changes like this are hastily designed and pursued without broad consultation, they are likely to have unintended consequences,” the legal nonprofit said.
Greens MP Sue Higginson said the bill should be subject to a parliamentary inquiry and formal advice from the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
Since its establishment in 1989, the corruption watchdog has produced more than 30 reports exposing potential and actual corrupt behavior in the planning system.
Ms Higginson warned that environmental protections would be rolled back while ministers and the bureaucracy were given extraordinary powers without independent oversight.
“This is the kind of structure that has enabled corruption in NSW planning before, and it’s happening again,” he said.
