The Planning Minister, Paul Scully MP, is trying to give himself power to pick and choose sections of state significant developments, like Bowdens, to be fast tracked through the system.

 If this amendment is passed, it will apply retrospectively to Bowdens. This means, Bowdens will be able to reinstate its approval without doing the necessary impact assessments of key parts of the project.

 We hear the government will try to rush these changes through in the next few days.

 This is as dodgy as it sounds. How can you help?

 Help register your opposition to the amendment today by emailing any or all of the below politicians. You could say something along the lines of:

Dear {ENTER NAME}

 We urge you to scrutinise the Environmental Planning and Assessment Bill Amendment (State Significant Developments) 2024 carefully as its consequences are serious and have implications for any State Significant Development including renewable projects.

The Government is claiming these amendments simply take the Planning system back to how it was before the Court of Appeal finding. However, the ramifications of the amendments go further than this. It could mean proponents are incentivised to exclude major sections of projects – particularly ones that may be problematic, especially to people and the environment.

It could give the Planning Minister (through their Secretary) discretionary power to deal with “problematic” sections of any project by excluding them from proper assessments.

The Minister could potentially pick and choose sections of projects to be fast tracked through the system. The bill is clearly aimed at undermining the NSW Court of Appeal ruling in Bingman Catchment Landcare Group v Bowdens Silver decided on 16 August 2024.

The case confirmed that the intent of planning legislation for NSW state significant developments is to prevent projects being split up into strategic portions by proponents in an effort to secure piecemeal approval. This is critical because it ensures governments and relevant agencies can fully identify the cumulative impacts of any development before giving it the green light. 

For the government to now propose changing that legislation and apply that change retrospectively is dangerous and underhanded.

I trust that the fair and just decision will be made for the good of the people and the environment.

Yours truly,

{ENTER YOUR NAME}

Who should you send your email to? See the list of relevant politicians and email addresses here.

Can’t find who you’re looking for? See the full list here.

Please remember to edit the subject heading of your email to ensure it gets read! Group emails, including (CC and BCCs don’t reach their inboxes - so individual emails are required).

Also, play to the party – for instance:

• If they are Nationals, you can add something about supporting locals and not renewables

• If they are Greens, you can talk about the removal of proper environmental assessments.