On 22nd October an amendment of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Bill was introduced by Pru Goward (Minister for Planning) to the NSW Parliament. The Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment Bill 2014 facilitates the introduction of ePlanning for NSW via an online planning portal
In her introduction of the Bill to Parliament, Ms Goward said, “The bill … will bring enormous economic benefits to the State by simplifying the planning system and making it easier to do business whilst also increasing transparency and access to information.

“The bill brings the planning system into the twenty-first century by introducing ePlanning, which will give people better access to planning information and decisions anywhere and at any time. The Environmental Planning and Assessment Act is currently based on a system of paper plans and maps, with important planning information required to be published in weekly newspapers. New South Wales needs a modern planning system that is up to date with the way people do business and communicate with one another. In July this year I had the opportunity to launch a range of free online tools as the first step towards modernising the planning system. The release of those tools was made possible by this Government's $A30 million commitment to deliver a range of online planning services and information, announced as part of the 2014-15 budget. In the first two months, over 35,000 visitors have gone online to use the ePlanning tools.

“The next step is to provide the necessary statutory backing for ePlanning. The bill establishes the New South Wales planning portal, where people can access information and interactive maps to help them understand the planning system, and how they might be affected by planning decisions. The planning portal will be the one place where both State and local government information will be available at the click of a button. Applicants will be able to take advantage of online lodgement and tracking of planning applications, which will dramatically reduce the time and resources currently spent on producing hard copy volumes and make it easier to do business. Using three-dimensional [3D] visualisation tools, ePlanning will allow the community to see how a proposed precinct actually will look and give them the tools they need to contribute to the planning process.

“The bill also resolves copyright issues that arise when planning information is published online. Local councils have long expressed concern about their ability to reproduce plans and other documents submitted with a development application. The bill will enable councils to be protected from breaching copyright laws, without disadvantaging copyright owners, by enabling planning applications to include a licence to use copyright material and a warranty that the applicant has a licence from the copyright owner. These protections will be limited to local government and the State Government and will not enable third parties to use or reproduce publicly available planning information without the express approval of the copyright owner. Finally, the bill will make a number of other minor amendments such as updating references in the Act to the director-general of the department to the secretary of the department. I commend the bill to the House.”