$500,000 for Electronic Development Assessment in the ACT

Tanya Plibersek, today announced $500,000 in Australian Government funding to help bring builders and developers in the ACT one step closer to full electronic development assessments (eDAs).

Ms Plibersek has allocated $30 million to roll-out eDAs across the nation as part of the Rudd Government’s $512 million Housing Affordability Fund.

The eDAs will cut the red tape associated with lodging a development assessment application and streamline the assessment process.

Today’s announcement will enable the ACT to develop end-to-end eDA processes which allow lodgement, tracking, referral and determination of applications to be performed electronically.

Development of a common protocol will help to ensure that different software systems, built by different vendors across different jurisdictions, will be kept broadly compatible.

“The Rudd Government is committed to seeing States and Territories reform their development application systems and believes it is important to help them work together to develop eDA in their jurisdictions,” Ms Plibersek said.

“By moving towards a national framework, the Government is doing its part to ensure that all affected parties move to electronic systems that ‘talk to each other’ in the most efficient manner possible.

“I am also pleased that the ACT is the first jurisdiction to receive funding to implement new projects under the eDA initiative. This means that home buyers in the ACT will benefit from a quicker, more accessible and user-friendly development assessment process.

“By lowering costs for builders and developers, this program will pass on savings to home buyers.”

The Housing Affordability Fund is a Rudd Government initiative that invests $512 million over five years to target the planning and infrastructure costs that are incurred when building new housing developments.

The Government is also developing the electronic development assessment interoperability specifications (eDAIS), which will ensure a common protocol across States and Territories for the electronic lodgement of planning and development assessments.

The Government has contracted the ACT Planning and Land Authority to upgrade the ACT’s existing planning systems to ensure it is consistent with eDAIS.