From the CEO
“Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work”. Peter Drucker.
Tomorrow, UDIA is hosting its Industry Luncheon to discuss the new draft National Urban Policy put out by the Albanese government. The draft policy identifies the Australian Government’s goals for urban places being liveable, equitable, productive, sustainable and resilient and calls for input on a shared government vision for sustainable growth in cities. Sounds good in theory.
What was also good in theory was the first National Urban Policy, ‘Our Cities, Our Future’ released in 2011 by the then Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, the Hon. Anthony Albanese. The goals in that policy were liveability, sustainability and productivity with some worthy objectives around integrating land use and infrastructure, facilitating the supply of appropriate mixed income housing and improving the planning & management of our cities.
One could argue that the world has changed dramatically since 2011 and that is true in many ways. However, the issues that were being addressed back in 2011 as listed above are still prevalent today and in many cases the consequences of inaction are now far greater.
Where would we be today had the 2011 National Urban Policy have been executed as planned? Who knows, but what I do know is that the focus needs to shift very quickly away from motherhood statements and into an intense and urgent focus on execution.
As the Hon. John Carey MLA says, ‘I know what the problems are, just give me solutions.’
I say, we know what the solutions are, just get on with it.
Tanya Steinbeck
UDIA WA Chief Executive Officer
EP Act Amendment Bill introduced to Parliament
The highly anticipated Environmental Protection Act Amendment Bill 2024 was introduced to State Parliament today, with the legislation aiming to speed up approval timeframes by allowing parallel planning and environmental assessment.
While we still need to analyse the legislation in more detail, UDIA WA is generally supportive of the proposed reforms, which are in line with recommendations from the Vogel-McFerran Review which strives to balance environmental protection with facilitating development, including for much needed housing supply.
WA’s current environmental approvals system does not work to support optimal environmental outcomes or the delivery of new homes, as it is overly complex and the different layers of government requirements can be contradictory and lack clarity, timeframes are too long, and delays can be costly for proponents.
According to the State Government’s media statement, under the new legislation, other Government regulators will be allowed to issue their own approvals ahead of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) issuing an environmental impact assessment. Under the current system, other Government regulators cannot consider approvals for projects until the EPA has finished its assessment – often resulting in multi-year delays to projects.
While this legislation is a positive step in the right direction, there is still work to be done to enable parallel approvals for planning schemes and scheme amendments (for example to enable rezoning of land for the delivery of diverse housing supply). We do hope that these initial changes assist in encouraging a practice and culture that more broadly supports parallel processing and increased efficiencies, and we will continue to engage with the State Government around further changes for streamlined approvals as they relate to the Planning and Development Act, including to allow for concurrent amendment of planning instruments.
Under the new legislation, a “Statement of Expectations” will be issued to the EPA by the Minister. While it is not yet drafted, UDIA WA expects that, with our current housing crisis, the Statement will set out clear expectations around working collaboratively across government and with industry to facilitate much needed housing supply.
UDIA WA has strongly and consistently called for a more strategic and planning-led approach to environmental decision-making, through regional planning and a strategic plan and fund for offsets and rehabilitation. These are key priorities in UDIA WA’s State Election campaign and will be essential in providing greater certainty for all around what areas can be developed and what and how other areas should be protected and rehabilitated.
For more information, you can read the Environmental Protection Act Amendment Bill 2024, as it has been introduced to Parliament, here.
UDIA WA to launch election campaign
UDIA WA will launch our 2025 State Election Campaign at our industry luncheon tomorrow, that will outline our priorities in the lead up to the election slated for May 2025.
The focus of the campaign is on solutions to addressing the current housing crisis and how we can deliver the homes we need, faster.
We have already started our stakeholder engagement process and will continue to meet with current Government representatives along with candidates and Opposition members in the coming months to ensure our priorities are well understood, and actioned.
Members can look out for all the details of our campaign in their inbox tomorrow afternoon following the official launch.
Policy Team in Action
On Monday afternoon, UDIA WA met with Shane Love MLA, the Leader of the Opposition, his Policy Advisor, and Morgan Byas, Candidate for Darling Range, to brief them on UDIA WA’s priorities for the upcoming State Election and to have a general conversation as to what they are hearing from constituents. There was agreeance on the need for improved infrastructure coordination, planning and funding to allow improved delivery of housing supply in key growth areas amongst a host of other discussion matters including enabling immediate supply across the continuum and a more strategic approach to environmental approvals and offsets.
Following this, UDIA WA met with Bronwen Clark, CEO of the National Growth Areas Alliance, to discuss a range of housing policy issues in growth areas and implications and considerations from an industry and local government perspective. Infrastructure coordination, funding and delivery was a key focus and discussing the mechanisms which would enable improvements on that front. We look forward to hearing from Bronwen on Friday at our lunch event, The NEW National Urban Policy.
On Tuesday afternoon, UDIA WA met with Minister Hannah Beazley and staffers to brief them on UDIA WA’s priorities for the upcoming State Election and how they relate to her portfolio and electorate of Victoria Park. Discussion focused on the challenges of delivery across the housing continuum. We also discussed work that the Government has undertaken to strengthen the residential construction workforce pipeline through the Government’s various training and skilled migration programs. In addition, we discussed the role of Land Lease Communities as part of the housing supply crisis response and necessary legislative changes, following the work of the Land Lease Communities Working Group.
July sees record participation rates in the economy
The Australian Bureau of Statistics have released the latest numbers from the Labour Force survey for July 2024. Notably, while unemployment has risen to 4.2%, the participation rate is at a high of 67.1%. Kate Lamb, ABS head of Labour Statistics has said “the record high participation rate and near record high employment-to-population ratio shows that there continues to be a high number of people in jobs, and looking for and finding jobs.” While the unemployment rate is the highest it’s been since November 2021, it remains historically low, and combined with the high participation rate suggests that the labour market will remain tight for the foreseeable future.
Find out more by reading the ABS media release here or view the latest Labour Force data here.
Call for Submissions for Social Housing
The Department of Communities (Communities) hope to increase the supply and diversity of social housing by working collaboratively with the property and construction industry.
Communities “Call for Submissions for Social Housing” initiative invites industry to help deliver residential developments for social housing in Perth and regional Western Australia.
Submissions can be made to Communities until 2 July 2025.
To read more, or make a submission, click here.
Retirement Village reforms introduced to Parliament
The State Government introduced reforms to the Retirement Villages Act 1992 yesterday that primarily relate to exit entitlements, redevelopments and new rules around capital and reserve funds.
Once the legislation passes Parliament, operators will have 12 months to comply with the new time limit on exit entitlements.
Commerce Minister Sue Ellery said, “With such a wide range of villages and financial models to now choose from, new legislation was needed to allow residents to make well-informed choices about their retirement village living journey, as well as to promote confidence in the sector to support future development.”
Download the Bill and related documentation here.
Learn to be tomorrow’s leader, today
Be part of the first cohort through UDIA WA’s Emerging Leaders Program!
Beginning 19 September, the new Emerging Leaders Program is designed to develop today’s professionals to become tomorrow’s leaders. Combining a one-day course with one-on-one mentoring over six months, our comprehensive Emerging Leader’s Program aims to further support WA’s urban development industry.
The one-day course is facilitated by AIM’s Chris Williams, Senior L&D Specialist and will feature two industry leaders who will share the experiences they’ve had along their leadership journeys.
Open to members, the following six months to March comprises of Industry mentoring and industry experience designed to equip participants with hands-on experience that will develop their leadership skills.
To register your spot in the course, click here.