To whom it may concern,
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the revised Land Use Planning and
Approvals Amendment (Development Assessment Panels) Bill 2025. YIMBY Hobart was established to advocate for:
Housing abundance: More housing of all types where people want to live.
A city for people at all ages and stages, of all means and abilities: Our city and suburbs should reflect the diversity of the community as a whole.
Better access for everyone: Being an active participant in our city should not rely on owning a car.
Our interest in the proposed Development Assessment Panels (DAPs) primarily relates
to their impact on the supply of housing, particularly medium-density and
social/affordable developments.
Despite improvements, YIMBY Hobart remains opposed to the introduction of
Development Assessment Panels. We maintain our opposition for the same reasons set
out in our previous submission on the draft Development Assessment Panels bill.
First, we are concerned that using the urgent need to increase the rate of housing
development as a rationale for broader, and likely contentious, changes to the planning
scheme risks unnecessarily politicising housing developments. This would have the
opposite effect to the bill’s stated purpose of “taking the politics out of planning”.
Second, the bill is part of an emerging trend of tinkering with the Tasmania planning
system instead of consolidating and improving the reforms that have been underway for
over a decade. The Tasmanian Government has invested significant time and money in
establishing a single Tasmanian Planning Scheme and related strategic planning
reforms. YIMBY Hobart believes the best way to support more and better housing is to:
Consolidate the reforms already underway (including more permissive mixed-use and residential zoning in activity centres and along transport corridors), and
Provide stability and predictability for councils, communities and proponents, rather than continually adding new mechanisms and exceptions.
Continuing to establish new processes and structures, such as DAPs, risks further
fragmenting the system and distracting from the core task of enabling more homes in
the right places.
We do acknowledge that the revised bill represents a genuine improvement in one
important respect: the removal or significant curtailment of broad Ministerial call-in
powers that were available under the earlier draft.
YIMBY Hobart was concerned that the previous draft vested wide discretionary powers
in the Minister in relation to contentious developments. The decision to remove or
significantly limit these powers is a positive step and better aligns with the stated aim of
reducing politicisation of individual planning decisions.
We remain strongly supportive of the powers set out in S60AB(1)(a). We would like to
see powers to expedite and simplify social housing approvals and developments
enacted through a standalone act or as an amendment to existing legislation.
Thank you again for the opportunity to comment.
