COAG
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) is pursuing microeconomic reform across all major sectors of the Australian economy.
COAG agreed in 2008 to a National Partnership to Deliver a Seamless National Economy to progress national regulatory reform in 27 priority areas. Development assessment is one of the 27 key areas of reform identified under the agreement and are designed to reduce costs to businesses and consumers and contribute to productivity growth and improved living standards.
The Local Government Planning Ministers' Council (LGPMC) has been leading the reforms of planning and development assessment processes. These reforms include:
- Electronic development assessment implementation;
- A system of annual performance monitoring on the number, type and length of assessment of development applications across Australia;
- Establishing a set of best practice National Planning System Principles; and
- Use of code-based development assessments for single residential dwellings, and multi-unit and commercial and industrial buildings.
Planning and development assessment reform is a critical component of the broad reform agenda and has been influenced by work published by the DAF over a number of years. DAF released its Leading Practice Model for Development Assessment in Australia in March 2005 and that has influenced the direction of subsequent work by COAG and LGPMC.
COAG Meeting Outcomes http://www.coag.gov.au/