The Property Council of Australia has welcomed the passage of the Environmental Planning and Assessment (Planning System Reforms) Bill 2025 through the NSW Parliament last night, calling it a major milestone in delivering a faster, fairer, and more transparent planning system.

Property Council NSW Executive Director Anita Hugo said the Bill's passage was strong endorsement of practical reform to tackle the housing and infrastructure challenges facing NSW.

“This is a big step forward for NSW. The Bill clears away long-standing inefficiencies and provides the tools needed to deliver more homes, jobs, and investment,” Ms Hugo said.

“It's the culmination of months of constructive work by Government, Opposition and Crossbench members, together with industry and the community, and it shows what can be achieved when Parliament focuses on working together to deliver solutions.”

The Property Council commended the Government for listening to industry feedback throughout the legislative process and for adopting several key amendments to strengthen transparency and accountability, including:

• Mandatory publication of Ministerial decisions and reasons when rejecting Housing Delivery Authority recommendations.
• The establishment of a Joint Select Committee to review the HDA's impact every three years.
• Annual reporting on the Development Coordination Authority's operations.
• A 28-day public consultation period for targeted assessment development.

Ms Hugo said the changes struck the right balance between speeding up delivery and maintaining proper oversight.

“These reforms improve coordination, simplify pathways and introduce common-sense safeguards. It's exactly the kind of system-wide fix NSW needs to turn approvals into real homes and projects.”

Ms Hugo said the strengthened objectives of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 – including explicit recognition of social and economic welfare and building occupant safety – would modernise the foundations of the state's planning framework.

“The Bill embeds long-term thinking about people, places and productivity into the heart of the planning system. It gives government and industry a stronger platform for collaboration.”

The Property Council also welcomed the bipartisan spirit defining the Bill's passage and urged continued collaboration as the reforms are implemented.

“The next challenge is execution – resourcing assessment teams, finalising practice notes and maintaining open dialogue with industry to make the reforms work on the ground,” Ms Hugo said.