Mayoral Statement: Housing Delivery Authority
The people of NSW should be seriously concerned about the Minns Government’s Housing Delivery Authority.
It’s unfathomable that at a time when the Minns Government is banning councils from having confidential briefings – they have given an unelected three-person panel the power to decide on the biggest housing developments in the state in complete secrecy.
Major developments in the state are now bypassing councils and seeking the Housing Delivery Authority to assess their applications.
Today, we learn that a Department of Planning Executive paid more than $300,000 per annum has been using AI to assess HDA applications and make recommendations to the panel on whether they should be fast-tracked or not. To add to this, a review of recent HDA meeting minutes shows that on average, the Panel is then spending no more than 3 minutes determining each application, many of which involve major rezonings.
This is a sad reflection of the absolute panic stations that have set in at the Department of Planning – where they now approve homes first, ask questions later.
This mindset has been created by the Premier and the Minister for Planning, as they disregard all planning standards as part of their race to the bottom to achieve the Prime Minister’s unattainable housing accord targets.
