With the recent downturn in the mining and resources sector, the development industry has an increasingly important role to play in strengthening the State’s economy. Development Assessment Panels (DAPs) are a key enabler for the development industry to deliver housing that is affordable and located where people want to live and work.
Recently, the role and powers of DAPs have been subject to significant public debate, with a growing ‘anti-DAP’ campaign emerging and gaining the attention of both major political parties. Part of this campaign has been calls to change, or even scrap, the current DAP model.The Property Council does not support any changes to the current DAP model and recommends the current system remains for the following reasons:
- DAPs are a major reform that deliver planning outcomes in the broad community interest
- DAPS provide consistent and timely processing of Development Applications
- DAPs implement Council policies approved by State and local government
The below submission presents an overview of how the current DAP model operates in practice.