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Land and Environment Court imposes record penalty for unlawful clearing of native vegetation
Late in 2024, the Land and Environment Court imposed record fines for the unlawful clearing of native vegetation in Secretary, Department of Planning, Industry and Environment v Ronald Lewis Greentree and Auen Grain Pty Ltd [2024] NSWLEC 131. Clearing of native…
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ALERT: Housing Development Authority up and running in 2025
In late 2024, we blogged about the announcement of the new Housing Delivery Authority (HDA) by the NSW state government (see here). The HDA is now operational, having been established on 19 December 2024 by the Environmental Planning and Assessment…
Breach of the Information Protection Principles by Fire and Rescue NSW
By nature of their operations, public sector agencies and organisations possess personal information provided by their employees and the general public they serve. While much community focus has been placed on protecting data stored digitally, agencies must ensure compliance with…
Amendments to create 7 TOD Accelerated Precincts commence
In July the NSW Government identified 8 ‘Transport Oriented Development accelerated precincts’ where it proposed to fast-track rezonings to boost housing supply near major transport hubs. It was announced on Monday that changes to planning controls would commence today for…
ALERT: Bill to reform the biodiversity offsets scheme passed in the first step to make NSW ‘nature positive’
On Friday the Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Biodiversity Offsets Scheme) Bill 2024 (Bill) was passed by NSW Parliament. The Bill will significantly amend the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (BC Act) on a date to be proclaimed. The Bill follows a 2023…
Penalty Notices Q&A #3
Welcome to our third and final article in this series about penalty notices. Let’s take a look at some of the most recent questions we’ve been asked: What does it mean to exercise discretion when issuing penalty notices? This is…
ALERT: New Housing Delivery Authority and Rezoning Process for Major Residential Housing Projects
On Friday, 15 November 2024, the NSW state government announced the establishment of a new state-led approval pathway for major residential housing projects, as well as a new “fast track” process for rezonings required to enable major housing projects. To…
Draft Australian Drinking Water Guidelines Released for Public Consultation
On 21 October 2024, the National Health and Medical Research Centre (NHMRC) released its proposed amendments to the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (Guidelines) for public consultation. The draft Guidelines recommend lower values for PFAS in drinking water and are an…
Release of Report on the Inquiry into the Development of the Transport Oriented Development Program
Last week the NSW Legislative Council’s Portfolio Committee No. 7 – Planning and Environment released its report into the Development of the Transport Oriented Development (TOD) Program (TOD Inquiry). The TOD Inquiry was self-referred by the Committee. The terms of reference…
The LEC describes what constitutes ‘adequate arrangements’ to make essential services available when required
A number of local environmental plans have an ‘essential services’ clause that requires a consent authority to be satisfied that services that are essential for development (commonly the supply of water or electricity, disposal of sewage, etc.) are available or…
REMINDER: Requirements of the Mandatory Data Breach Notification Scheme for Public Sector Agencies
The Mandatory Notification of Data Breach Scheme (MNDB Scheme) is a mandatory notification requirement under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (PPIP Act) for NSW public sector agencies, including all NSW agencies and departments, statutory authorities, local councils,…
Availability of Judicial Review to Set Aside Construction Certificate Confirmed by Court of Appeal
Recent years have seen several developments in the law regarding the validity of instruments such as development consents, complying development certificates and construction certificates. We have blogged on many of these cases (see here and here for instance). The Court…