Stop the Big Developer Takeover

Dear Member of Parliament,
I am writing to express my deep concern about the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Planning System Reforms) Bill 2025.
This Bill hands extraordinary powers to the Planning Secretary, now called the Development Coordination Authority, and creates a new Targeted Assessment Development pathway. These changes will take decisions out of the hands of councils and independent experts, and allow projects to be forced onto communities without proper scrutiny.
I am also extremely worried that the changes will open new avenues for corruption to flourish within the planning system.
As a local resident, I am especially worried about the impacts this will have in my electorate. People in our towns, suburbs and across the landscape are already dealing with traffic congestion, pressure on schools and hospitals, loss of local character, a nature deficit and developments that are in unsafe locations and out of scale with the community. This Bill will make all of that worse.
Targeted Assessment Development would mean new projects pushed through with no consideration of the environment, climate impacts, or the broader public interest. The Development Coordination Authority will be able to overrule local voices and expert agencies. This is not fair and it is not what our communities want.
I know that many Members of Parliament, including from the Liberal and National Parties, have raised concerns about fast-tracked and inappropriate development. You understand the importance of locals having a genuine say and making sure planning decisions reflect the needs of your constituents.
I am asking you to stand with your community, and to use your role in Parliament to oppose this Bill or press for significant amendments that:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 300;" aria-level="1">keep corruption safeguards and oversight mechanisms</li>
<li style="font-weight: 300;" aria-level="1">protect the right of local communities to have a say</li>
<li style="font-weight: 300;" aria-level="1">safeguard the environment, public health and cultural heritage</li>
<li style="font-weight: 300;" aria-level="1">ensure planning decisions are made transparently and in the public interest</li>
</ul>
This is an opportunity to show that you are listening to your constituents and that you will not allow massive overdevelopment to be forced onto our communities.

Stop the Big Developer Takeover

The Minns Labor Government, backed by the Liberals, have introduced the most dangerous changes to the planning system NSW has ever seen.

These changes are not about solving the housing crisis. They are about handing more power to big developers and polluters.

Under the changes, the Planning Secretary becomes the Development Coordination Authority with the power to override expert agencies on issues like environment, heritage, water and fire safety. Local councils are stripped of meaningful roles and communities lose their right to be heard.

This type of concentrated power makes our planning system more susceptible to corruption - let’s not forget Labor has taken us down that road before!

The Bill introduces targeted assessment development, a fast-track approval process where decision-makers are legally prohibited from considering environmental protection, ecologically sustainable development, or the public interest. This is a green light for destructive projects.

Community participation plans are abolished and replaced with a single statewide plan set by the Planning Secretary. This means the same cookie-cutter consultation process applies everywhere, regardless of the scale, context, impacts of the proposal or the community’s wishes.

The proposed changes wind back review and appeal rights, funnelling decisions into the Development Authority and preventing communities or objectors from holding decision makers and the system to account.

This is not planning reform. It is a developer’s charter. It puts democracy, transparency and the environment at risk.

We know there are real solutions to the housing crisis. If the Government was serious, it would:

establish a public property developer to deliver genuinely affordable and diverse housing on public land
legislate ambitious affordable housing targets, with at least 30 percent of new developments affordable and in perpetuity
regulate short-term rentals to return thousands of homes to the long-term rental market
stop unsafe development on floodplains and in bushfire zones
legislate strong energy efficiency standards for all new homes

Let’s call Labor's laws out for what they are - a dangerous step backwards!

Stop the Big Developer Takeover

Stop the Big Developer Takeover

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