2026-05-04
NSW Labor Premier Chris Minns has announced in a media conference this morning that he wants environmental reviews and community consultation to be cut from the process when considering major new infrastructure developments.
This comes as the Government’s rapid densification of residential areas is posed to outstrip essential infrastructure throughout NSW.
Greens MP, Solicitor, and spokesperson for Planning Sue Higginson said,
“Premier Chris Minns doesn’t understand the law or the planning system, and what has become apparent over the last three years is that he just doesn’t care. The Premier needs to learn that accountability and good governance are not optional extras, and you can’t simply trade them for a headline,”
“The Minns Labor Government has already put a hammer to the NSW Planning system with streamlined approvals and special application pathways for the biggest and wealthiest development firms in the state. This latest knee jerk announcement from the Premier goes beyond the pale by showing complete disdain for the community and the environment,”
“The Premier has demonstrated that he has the capacity to act dangerously and lawlessly. He has been willing to foist unconstitutional laws on the people of NSW on two occasions already, with significant impacts on our civil liberties and at great cost to the public purse. This lawlessness is now leeching into the way our community and environment are considered when it comes to big new developments,”
“I think it is clear to all who have been watching that the Premier has realised it’s 11 minutes to election eve, and he knows that he can’t deliver on his promises. He has spent the past 3 years talking housing, housing, housing with developers and the big end of town rather than focussing on his job to deliver the infrastructure, because you can’t have successful housing if you don’t have schools, hospitals and transport projects,”
“At every stage of the NSW Planning reform that Minns has led, the Greens have been calling out that good planning centres communities and the environment, but instead he’s blaming the community and environment for his failures and threatening to leave them behind - it’s a plan for failure,” Ms Higginson said.