30 July 2026
UDIA WA was pleased to host our inaugural Red Tape Summit on Tuesday at the University of Western Australia (UWA), aimed at bringing the key stakeholders in relation to housing delivery together in one room to discuss the challenges and opportunities ahead for further streamlining planning and environmental approvals.
The Summit was opened by the Hon. John Carey MLA, Minister for Planning and Lands; Housing and Works; Health Infrastructure. The Minister outlined ongoing implementation of the State Government’s planning reform agenda, including recent announcements in relation to R-Codes reform and Precincts WA.
Importantly, the Minister also announced further planning reform measures at the Summit, that are aimed at streamlining processes and accelerating the delivery of new housing across the state.
Resulting from direct UDIA WA advocacy, the overall aim of the reforms is to reduce duplication and delays across planning, structure plan, and subdivision processes, with details of the latest reforms included in this edition of Urban Express and in a Member Alert sent to all members yesterday.
Setting the scene
Following the Minister’s presentation, a panel of residential developers including UDIA WA President and Hesperia Residential Director Grant Shepherd; Stockland Project Director Louise Nazareth; and Celsius Property Managing Director Richard Pappas discussed the recent planning reforms and provided a developer’s perspective on the current approvals landscape and the impact of delays and complexity in the planning system on housing delivery and importantly, affordability.
One of the key themes during the panel discussion, and a theme that flowed throughout the rest of the Summit, was the importance of creating a culture within government that is less risk adverse and focused on proactively supporting the delivery of housing to the market. The panel also touched on the importance of DPLH taking a leadership approach to driving timely decision making and cross agency coordination in relation to residential development projects.
To round out the scene setting in session one, Cossill & Webley Director Avril Thomson shared a comprehensive overview of lessons learned from the current fuel crisis, given the real and immediate impact on supply chains and construction costs.
Avril also outlined how delays and uncertainty add risk and friction to development projects, highlighting the need for more efficient planning and environmental approvals; a more responsive skills and migration pipeline; and coordinated outcomes and streamlined pathways through the planning system to increase productivity and build greater resilience.
The reality of escalating cost
In session two, we turned to the real cost of delays, with insights from Joe Bonarrigo from Resolve Finance providing a fantastic rundown on the cost of project delays and uncertainty on the end consumer. Joe shared how reducing uncertainty and delays; and greater industry and government collaboration can lead to the reduced cost of home ownership.
The following panel session focused on project feasibility and financing with General Manager and Company Secretary of Finbar, Scott Cameron, providing context for how project feasibility is impacted by a range of factors including material costs, labour, holding costs and government red tape.
Director Client Coverage at National Australia Bank, Ben Harvey, and Executive Manager Property Finance at Commonwealth Bank, Evan Schmedje, joined Scott on the panel, providing interesting insight into the bank’s perspective, including the steps in achieving project finance approval, and how finance approval and feasibility is impacted by unforeseen delays in the approvals process and the end result impacting on housing affordability.
Achieving agency alignment
After enjoying some sunshine at morning tea amid the grounds of the UWA campus, Summit attendees heard from Director of Lockwood Advisory, Nicole Lockwood, on how her new initiative HomeWA, with Project Lead David McFerran, is aiming to collaborate with industry partners to address the housing supply crisis with structural, systems reform.
Nicole was followed by a panel of State Government leaders including WAPC Chair Emma Cole; DPLH Director General Anhtony Kannis; and DWER’s Director of Priority Approvals Ed Schuller; who provided open and frank responses to questions around outcomes of the recent Perth and Peel at 3.5million frameworks health check, how they are building a more collaborative culture across relevant State Government agencies, and the importance of coordination in relation to service and infrastructure delivery with the roll out of development ready land.
The final speaker for session three was WALGA President and Mayor of Stirling Mark Iriwn, giving his perspective on local government’s role in supporting housing delivery.
Navigating the green tape gauntlet
To round out the Summit, the final session focused on ‘green tape’ with an opening address from EPA Chair Darren Walsh on how his Authority is balancing environmental protection with facilitating the delivery of land and housing.
Darren outlined how environmental assessments have been streamlined to date, and the greater coordination between planning and environmental agencies including links between the EPA and WAPC.
Darren’s presentation was followed by a panel including National EPA Director Kate Hamer; Emerge Associates Director Jason Hick and Clayton Utz Partner Lucy Shea discussing the aspects of federal environmental reform that are important for the WA development industry to be aware of.
Discussion drilled down to the role of the newly established EPA, the future of environmental offsets and if there is any prospect for strategic assessment or bioregional planning in Western Australia.
Thank you and next steps
A huge thank you to all our presenters and panellists at the inaugural UDIA WA Red Tape Summit for delivering informative presentations that prompted plenty of questions and discussion throughout the day.
The Summit was an important opportunity for UDIA WA to bring stakeholders together, and the conversation does not stop here! UDIA WA will continue to engage and collaborate with government on what is a shared responsibility in ensuring all Western Australians have a place to call home