The planning system is not ‘red tape’, it’s the safeguards that make communities liveable, safe, and sustainable

Australia needs more of the right homes, faster, in the right locations. But delivering them well means more than just speed. We need strong, consistent, and trusted planning systems that can help tackle our significant challenges – from housing affordability to climate resilience, from infrastructure delivery to creating inclusive, connected communities.

Amid growing calls to “cut red tape” to boost productivity and enable more housing, we should be asking two critical questions: What exactly is red tape? And how do we design planning systems that meet community needs while navigating the complex trade-offs necessary to address the housing crisis?

The problem with a catch all term

Red tape has become a catch all critique of regulation – a convenient label for everything people dislike about rules and processes. But what’s actually being targeted? Assessment timeframes? Building codes? Community consultation? Environmental and cultural protections? Or a broader discomfort with regulating development at all?

Without a clear definition, blanket calls to cut red tape risk undermining the very safeguards that make communities liveable, safe, and sustainable.

Why planning matters

Good planning is the framework that ensures development delivers public benefit. Done well, it’s a guardrail rather than a barrier to housing and the mechanism that makes cities, streets, and buildings function cohesively. Regulation becomes red tape only when it’s poorly designed, creates duplication, or is outdated.

In fact, much of what’s now branded as red tape is fundamental to creating functional, equitable, and future ready communities. If addressing the housing crisis means cutting regulation, we must be clear eyed about the trade-offs:

• housing in bushfire, flood, or erosion-prone areas increases disaster risk, insurance costs, and long term insecurity
• expanding car dependent suburbs limits access to public transport, schools, and essential services
• weakening biodiversity protections damages ecosystems and erodes natural assets
• lower building standards can reduce natural light, ventilation, and space, harming health and wellbeing
• shrinking public open space undermines community connection and climate adaptation
• failing to protect heritage sites erases irreplaceable cultural value
• ignoring climate resilience locks in higher energy costs and emissions

These aren’t hypothetical risks, they’re measurable, costly outcomes.

The decisions we make now will shape liveability, prosperity, and resilience for generations.

Better regulation through better planning

PIA believes planning systems must evolve to work better, not be dismantled. That means reforming planning systems, so they are efficient, evidence based, and able to deliver the housing and infrastructure we need while safeguarding long-term public interests.

In our submission to the Federal Government’s Economic Reform Roundtable, we outline six reform areas:

1. accelerate well-located homes through upfront strategic planning
2. digitise planning systems for speed, transparency, and access
3. improve coordination across government
4. link infrastructure funding with land use and housing delivery
5. address workforce shortages, including planners
6. pursue targeted tax and finance reforms to enable housing supply

These are backed by 20 practical actions – from a national zoning and infill best practice model to better data on planning performance, to investment in trunk and catalytic infrastructure that can unlock already approved housing.

A smarter housing debate

When done well, planning doesn’t slow growth; it powers it:

• urban agglomeration: Strategic density near jobs and services boosts productivity, wages, and innovation
• infrastructure alignment: Coordinated land use saves money and speeds delivery
• risk management and climate resilience: Avoiding hazard-prone areas reduces disaster costs and disruptions
• streamlined approvals: Upfront clarity makes development assessment faster and more predictable

The question isn’t whether to cut red tape, it’s how to design modern planning systems that deliver housing efficiently without sacrificing safety, sustainability, or quality of life.

That means strengthening planning, not sidelining it.

Let’s help shift the narrative away from cutting red tape and towards better regulation. Let’s ask what regulations are for and how we make them work better to deliver the communities we all want to live in.

By investing in good planning and empowering planners, we can deliver more homes, create vibrant neighbourhoods, and secure a prosperous, resilient future for all Australians. That’s not a compromise – it’s a win-win.

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