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ALERT: Statewide Community Consultation Plan now in effect
The Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Planning System Reforms) Act 2025 continues to make significant changes to the development process in NSW. As of 1 September 2026, the reforms relating to community participation have commenced, and the statewide Community Participation Plan…
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ALERT: Updates to native vegetation provisions from 31 August 2026
By 1 September 2026, two key changes will have been made to the implementation of the Local Land Services Act 2013 (the LLS Act), in particular with respect to the regulation of native vegetation clearing in certain non-urban areas of…
Changes to Renewable Energy Planning Agreements Likely Coming in 2026
Voluntary planning agreements are frequently used by planning authorities, such as local councils, as the legal mechanism by which proponents of renewable energy projects share the benefits of those projects with the local community. Planning agreements for renewable energy projects…
Court of Appeal Confirms Role of Commissioners in Section 34 Agreements
In Class 1, 2 and 3 appeals in the Land and Environment Court (LEC), it is common for parties to reach an agreement in a conciliation conference on the issues in dispute prior to the final hearing and enter into a…
Changes to Establish Development Coordination Authority on Public Exhibition
We have previously written about the amendments to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 by the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Planning System Reforms) Act 2025 – see our earlier articles here and here. One key feature of the amendments was…
Changes to Workers Compensation Coming in 2026
Following the introduction of the new Stop Bullying and Harassment Orders in 2025 (see our article here), the NSW Government has now progressed their foreshadowed changes to workers compensation with the making of the Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment Act 2025…
ALERT: Commencement of New Stop Bullying and Harassment Scheme
As we wrote about in our earlier article, a new scheme addressing bullying and harassment was passed by the NSW Parliament in July 2025. You can read about the changes here: Stop Bullying and Harassment Orders Coming Soon in NSW….
Stop Bullying and Harassment Orders Coming Soon in NSW
The Industrial Relations Act 1996 will soon be amended so that State and local government employees will be able to apply to the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) for orders in relation to workplace bullying and harassment (IRC Orders). This…
Are the Integrated Development provisions of the EPA Act really ‘opt-in’?
It has been long accepted that the integrated development provisions in Division 4.8 of Part 4 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act) are ‘beneficial and facultative’, enacted to overcome duplication where, in addition to a development…
ALERT: New Local Infrastructure Contributions (including VPA) Practice Notes in Force for NSW
The Planning Secretary in NSW has published a suite of new local infrastructure contributions practice notes. These include an updated planning agreements practice note. The publication was not announced in a media release or accompanied by a planning circular by…
ALERT – New Planning Circular regarding Consultation on Conditions of Consent
On 7 April 2025, the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (Department) issued a new Planning Circular (PS 25-001) titled ‘Best practice consultation of draft conditions of consent prior to determination’ (Conditions Circular). The Conditions Circular has been prepared following…
VPAs & Benefit-Sharing for Renewable Energy Projects in NSW
Overview One of the key features of voluntary planning agreements (‘VPAs‘) under the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) (‘EPA Act‘) is their potential to be used to enable communities to share in the benefits of development. This type…