Mr GREG WARREN (Campbelltown) (12:29): My question is addressed to the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces. Will the Minister please update the House on community reaction to the Housing Delivery Authority?

Mr PAUL SCULLY (Wollongong—Minister for Planning and Public Spaces) (12:30): I thank the member for Campbelltown for his question. He understands the need for more well-located housing for young families and key workers in his area, and he is keen to see the Macarthur Gardens North Landcom development come out of the ground in the near future and create more housing just up the street from his office. The Government has made significant reforms to the New South Wales planning system to speed up the delivery of more homes and more affordable homes. We have set about the task of making the New South Wales planning system more certain, more consistent and more efficient.

Recently, the newly formed Housing Delivery Authority met and considered more expressions of interest. As a result, yesterday I declared a further 15 major residential projects that, between them, could deliver more than 7,000 new homes to be State significant developments. If approved, these 15 projects will deliver houses in metropolitan Sydney and in regional New South Wales. For those keeping track, that is a total of 44 projects that have been declared State significant, with the potential to deliver more than 22,000 homes. That is a great indication of the confidence that is coming back into the New South Wales system as a result of our planning reforms. Proponents will now have nine months to submit their detailed plans after a period of assessment, which will include public exhibition, contrary to some misinformation that has been trying to get out there. If those plans are approved, proponents will have 12 months to start construction.

There is a built-in "use it or lose it" clause. If the builds do not substantially commence within two years, they lose their approval. Our planning reforms are seeing more applications lodged and will see more homes built. That is what we are dedicated to. In fact, recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data for the first six months of the housing accord period shows confidence improving in New South Wales, with a 37 per cent increase in the number of development applications lodged compared to the year before. February data from the Planning Portal indicates that 70,000 homes are currently under assessment. That adds to the more than 72,000 homes that are under construction right now, and the more than 14,000 homes that have been approved but on which construction is yet to start.

There are some misconceptions, as the member for Campbelltown has said, about the Housing Delivery Authority. Let me be clear: The Housing Delivery Authority does not assess and approve housing proposals. It does not do the full development applications, nor does it grant an approval of a project. It considers expressions of interest for those new homes, and they are then subject to the industry standard assessment against a range of criteria. Projects must deliver a high yield of new homes. They must be well located. They should include affordable housing. [Extension of time]

The process is totally transparent. It maintains all the requirements for a stringent merit-based selection. It does not replace councils. It is an opt-in process. People can still lodge the exact same development proposal with a council if they wish. Those are some key facts that were missed by the Lord Mayor of Sydney in her lord mayoral minute. I am glad to see that the Labor councillors on the City of Sydney were the sole voice of reason, arguing for the need to provide more homes for their generation. In fact, the lord mayor called the Housing Delivery Authority "a step backwards" when it is anything but a step backwards. It is about getting the system in New South Wales moving so we do not keep losing young people to other States as we have been doing time and again. The editorial inTheSydney Morning Herald yesterday contained a very interesting quote that I am sure members would have read, but I will refresh their memories. It reads:

… it is a bit rich to whinge about new approaches when those new approaches have only materialised because councils have comprehensively failed to approve enough new housing.

Tackling the housing challenge should be a multi-partisan effort. I have been heartened by recent expressions of support by members of this place for more planning system reform. Members talk a big game about the need to tackle the housing challenge, but that rhetoric should be matched by their votes, like the one on the bill the Government introduced last sitting week that will improve certainty, increase consistency and improve the efficiency of the planning system.

I look forward to all members of this place supporting the sensible reforms that have been introduced and continuing to support sensible reforms in the interests of everyone in New South Wales. I look forward to members also encouraging their fellow party members at other levels of government to do exactly the same and back sensible planning reform, because that is what is needed in New South Wales. The Housing Delivery Authority, along with our other initiatives such as transport oriented development and low- and mid-rise housing reforms will deliver more housing for New South Wales.