Significant changes proposed for all development assessment in NSW risk increasing environmental, community impacts and corruption risks
Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Planning System Reforms) Bill 2025
Summary
Key takeaways
On 17 September 2025, the NSW Government introduced the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Planning System Reforms) Bill 2025 (the Bill) into the NSW Parliament.
The Bill proposes amendments to the State’s primary planning legislation, the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act), as well as the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021 (EP&A Regulation) and other legislation.
The NSW Government’s stated intention for the Bill is to “deliver more homes through a modern, faster, and fairer planning system for NSW”.[1] However, amendments made by the Bill apply to all development across NSW, not just housing.
Concerningly, the Bill:
- Reorients the planning system to simply promoting development, shifting focus away from the wellbeing of the community and the environment in decision making
- Purports to relate to housing, but will affect ALL types of development
- Diminishes environmental and bushfire risk considerations in decision making under the EP&A Act
- Introduces a new streamlined assessment pathway (“targeted development assessment”) that is unconstrained and expressly prohibits consideration of environmental impacts and the public interest (including the principles of ecologically sustainable development)
- Undermines anti-corruption safeguards recommended by Independent Commission Against Corruption
Overall, EDO views this Bill as a retrograde step which is not evidence-based and moves the NSW planning system away from a modern, fit-for-purpose, and forward-looking framework. It also goes explicitly against the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 which recommended aligning NSW legislation with nature positive outcomes and giving primacy to biodiversity considerations,[2] and the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) recommendations regarding accountability, transparency, and probity in the NSW planning system.[3]
EDO’s concerns are set out in more detail in our Briefing Note: Significant changes proposed for all development assessment in NSW: Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Planning System Reforms) Bill 2025.
It is highly concerning and unusual that the NSW Government has introduced such a significant and risky Bill into the Parliament with no public consultation and with no detailed explanatory material.
When changes like this are conceived in a rush and pursued without broad consultation there are likely to be unintended consequences for communities, for the environment, and for the integrity of the planning framework itself.
[1] https://www.nsw.gov.au/ministerial-releases/planning-system-reform-to-help-build-nsws-future
[2] Independent Review of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 – Final Report, August 2023, https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/tp/files/186428/Independent%20Review%20of%20the%20Biodiversity%20Conservation%20Act%202016-Final.pdf
[3] NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption, Anti-Corruption Safeguards and the NSW Planning System, February 2012, https://www.icac.nsw.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/2012-media-releases/icac-recommends-changes-to-the-nsw-planning-system-to-minimise-corruption-risks
Key actions
How to have your say on the Bill
There is no formal public consultation on the Bill. It is due to be considered by the NSW Parliament when it next sits, on 14 October 2025.
Members of the community who want to provide their feedback on the Bill can do so by contacting Members of Parliament directly to share views, ideally before it is debated on 14 October 2025, for example by contacting:
