On 17 November 2025, the Property Council submitted on the Fast-track Approvals Amendment Bill (2025).
Why this matters to our members
This Bill looks to reform and enhance the efficiency of the Fast Track Approvals Act 2024 ensures the streamlining and speeding of decision-making of consents for significant development projects. The property sector relies on predictable and transparent processes that can accelerate development while maintaining due diligence and ensuring compliance.
Our view
Property Council supports the Bill, which adopts a more permissive approach for commercial, industrial, and retail development projects that offer significant regional or national benefits.
At a high level, we recommend that the Bill proceed with adjustments. Property Council recommends that:
- Ensure Ministerial decision-making remains project-neutral, with assessments guided by clear statutory criteria, contingent on the undertaking of an efficient and proportional process;
- Align the Government Policy Statement (GPS) framework to explicitly prioritise not only the grocery sector but also urban development, commercial offices, industrial development, housing supply, and enabling infrastructure;
- Clear statutory guidance is provided to the public, aligning future Government Policy Statements (GPS) with the National Policy Statement (NPS) framework to prevent policy conflicts;
- Amend Section 14 to extend the five-day timeframe to 10 working days or allow it to restart by mutual agreement once applicants provide adequate information;
- Ministerial requests for additional information under Section 37A should be proportionate to the scale and complexity of the project and to ensure such requests are reasonable to the applicant, do not impose unnecessary compliance costs, delay decision-making timelines, or require a significant rewrite.
- We recommend maintaining flexible decision periods and enabling Panels to exercise limited discretion in extending deadlines where justified.
- We recommend that the appointments of the Expert Panels possess the necessary knowledge, skills, and experience in the relevant sector, including technical, economic, and planning expertise, to support timely and credible decision-making;
- Allow Panels to occasionally seek feedback on technical or material matters, leveraging their collective expertise to gather relevant information from affected parties for more robust decisions, while minimising duplication and unnecessary commentary from external stakeholders;
- Ensure clear definitions of ‘minor’ and ‘major’ modification of applications supplemented by the publishing of standard Ministerial determination timeframes – further transparency helps identify how the modification affects eligibility terms of conditions, and guidance on cost and risk;
- The Government publish clear guidance for applicants on how referral decisions and GPS considerations are applied, including examples of how Panels have interpreted and balanced these factors;
- We recommend flexibility for staged or phased infrastructure delivery under the infrastructure adequacy condition, ensuring provision aligns with project timelines and growth; And
- Decisions on competing applications should be guided by clear, objective criteria rather than political preference, to maintain fairness and integrity in the fast-track process.