New laws to speed up delivery of new homes and jobs by streamlining timeframes for government approvals have been introduced into State Parliament.
¬After consultation throughout much of last year, the Malinauskas Labor Government has introduced the State Development Coordination and Facilitation Bill 2025.
The legislation aims to address challenges and delays in assessment and approval processes, while – critically – maintaining South Australia's high levels of statutory protection.
These new mechanisms would help manage a growing number of urgent and significant projects, including those involving housing, decarbonisation and AUKUS in a more timely manner. This would be overseen by a new Coordinator-General function, improving coordination and adding capability and capacity into the system.
A key feature of the legislation are 'state development areas', which will be designated, pre-assessed 'go-zones' where the regulatory work will have been done ahead of time, allowing for quicker approvals within them once an application is made.
This innovative approach transforms the assessment process by changing it from reactive to proactive, meaning projects in areas identified as fit for such developments can proceed with certainty and pace when applied for.
Importantly, this will facilitate the right developments in the right locations and will in turn pave the way for creating highly-skilled jobs in South Australia, including in our regions.
The legislation also allows our state to remain competitive and cement our world-leader status when it comes responding to the challenges posed by climate change.
Other states and nations are acting now to take advantage of the massive potential on offer, and we want South Australia to remain ahead of the curve – and this common-sense reform will do just that, allowing us to rapidly capitalise on our abundant clean energy resources while adhering to the highest standards and protections.
The new Act will also bolster the State's ability to centrally coordinate important assessments related to AUKUS in an efficient, responsible and rigorous manner.
The legislation also contains mechanisms to improve and speed up the planning and delivery of enabling infrastructure and major housing developments, and help providers of essential services and infrastructure navigate complex licensing and third-party access processes – all of which will boost our efforts to unlock more homes for South Australians more quickly.
As put by Peter Malinauskas
Global decarbonisation and AUKUS present an unprecedented opportunity to boost our economic complexity and create more prosperity for South Australians.
But this won't just happen. Our state needs to seize these opportunities by attracting businesses, projects and urgently building more houses.
Improving the predictability and timeliness of government approvals will remove a known barrier to the flow of capital.. Businesses and projects are attracted to jurisdictions where they have certainty.
This legislation will ensure we are competitive internationally, and that we can move quickly to make decisions and get things done.
Importantly, it will do so in a way that ensures our robust statutory requirements and protections remain unchanged, so South Australians can continue to have confidence in the process of granting planning and regulatory approvals.
