———- Forwarded message ———
From: STEP <secretary@step.org.au>
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2025 at 13:19
Subject: Planning System Reforms Bill

Upper House/ MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL (MLC) CONTACTS

taylor.martin@parliament.nsw.gov.au
sue.higginson@parliament.nsw.gov.au
office.primrose@parliament.nsw.gov.au
rod.roberts@parliament.nsw.gov.au
scott.farlow@parliament.nsw.gov.au
president@parliament.nsw.gov.au 
wes.fang@parliament.nsw.gov.au
john.ruddick@parliament.nsw.gov.au
damien.tudehope@parliament.nsw.gov.au
Officeof.MLCMerton@parliament.nsw.gov.au
Officeof.MLCMunro@parliament.nsw.gov.au
jeremy.buckingham@parliament.nsw.gov.a
Officeof.MLCCarter@parliament.nsw.gov.au
office.macdonald@parliament.nsw.gov.au
office.rath@parliament.nsw.gov.au
sarah.mitchell@parliament.nsw.gov.au
office.ward@parliament.nsw.gov.au
nichole.overall@parliament.nsw.gov.au

The problem

We are very concerned about the ramifications of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Planning System Reforms) Bill which passed the Lower House last week and will be presented to the Upper House on Tuesday (21 October).

The announced plan is to speed up and simplify the planning system but no planning system can be simple. There are many other reasons for the housing shortage.

• The changes have the potential to remove or reduce the controls on environmental impacts, bushfire risks and building design that are so important for the future of our wildlife and urban lives.
  
  
• Powers will be placed in the hands of the minister or a government body that remove the rights to public consultation. On multiple occasions it has been local knowledge that has brought to light significant issues that developers’ supporting documents have ignored.
  
  
• This legislation risks leaving a legacy of communities that will suffer from excessive heat and loss of amenity. Our biodiversity will be further depleted. Overall it cannot be seen how these changes will solve the problem of housing affordability.

Please object now

Please contact to the independent members of the Upper House that hold the balance of power (see below) asking for the amendments outlined below. Please use your own words so the politicians and their staff actually read the email rather than put it aside as yet another group email.

Points you can make

• Say that you support the amendments made to the Bill last week which took mining approvals out of the Bill, improved the consideration of bushfire risks and did not water down objects of the act relating to the environment and health and safety
  
  
• Ask for a public inquiry so that the large number of outstanding issues can be considered in detail.
  
  
• Ask for removal of the ‘targeted assessment development’ pathway for ‘low-impact’ development applications (DAs) that ‘turns off the need to consider local impacts, the public interest and the suitability of the site’ and ‘allows for reduced or no community consultation’.Reject the expansion of the complying development pathway that has already had significant impacts on our tree canopy cover.
  
  
• Object to the fact that DAs will no longer require consultation with specialised agencies (such as Sydney Water, the Environmental Protection Authority, Rural Fire Service and aboriginal heritage experts). Instead a government body will take over this role, supposedly to speed up approvals but this gives too much power to the department.
  
  
• The Bill removes consultation with the Environment Department about adverse impact on critical habitat or threatened species before a Local Environment Plan is approved. This has long term implications for our wildlife.
  
  
• There is no longer a mechanism for ensuring that certifiers will oversee compliance with building standards. There must be a body to investigate non-compliance complaints.

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