Development levies: what’s happening and what we’re pushing for

Legislation to replace the current development contributions system with a new development levies scheme is still on track to be introduced as the Local Government (Infrastructure Funding) Amendment Bill to Parliament before November.

However, the expectation is it won’t pass until after the election and Property Council welcomes that. A longer select committee process gives the sector a genuine opportunity to shape the detail, and getting the settings right matters enormously here.

Property Council recently met with officials working on the scheme to get the latest. Implementation remains on track for mid-2027.

Our central concern we are still pushing to officials is accountability and transparency. The new system aggregates growth costs across entire regions under a “growth pays for growth” model — a proposal Property Council’s members accept in principle. But costs going up for developers must come with clear answers: what exactly are we paying for, when will it be delivered, and is it being built efficiently in a cost-effective way? The cost of growth now encompasses years of infrastructure catch-up, and some regions may not be able swallow these margins.

We’re pushing hard for the same rigour applied to national infrastructure projects to extend to local authorities under this scheme. The Commerce Commission’s regulatory role will be pivotal — but the exposure draft still lacks detail on what that looks like in practice. We’ll be making our expectations clear throughout the select committee process.

If you have any feedback, concerns or questions, get in touch with Bella Leddy to join our Development Levies taskforce.