An AI planning assistant used by New South Wales councils has handled more than 16,500 resident conversations in nine months. About a third took place outside council counter hours.
City of Newcastle and Muswellbrook Shire Council are the latest to launch DAISY (Development Application Intelligence System) on their websites. It was developed by Australian company Enterprise AI with transformation support from ADAPTOVATE, and Dungog Shire Council is next to go live.
The assistant gives residents, home builders and small developers plain-English guidance on the planning rules that apply to a property. It also identifies required documents and helps applicants check their material before lodging.
The aim is to reduce incomplete development applications and avoidable follow-up, so council planners can concentrate on assessment.
Between January and September 2026, DAISY recorded 16,533 conversations across live council deployments, according to Enterprise AI's reporting.
Enterprise AI estimates the conversations returned 4,133 hours of staff time. Its modelling assumes 15 minutes to handle a comparable phone or counter enquiry.
The company says early adopters have recorded a 20 per cent reduction in assessment timeframes and a 49 per cent increase in service capacity.
"For a homeowner planning an extension or a small builder preparing a development application, understanding the rules and getting the paperwork right can be a significant hurdle," said Douglas Ross, CEO of Enterprise AI. "For councils, every incomplete application or avoidable enquiry adds to the workload of teams already managing complex assessments."
From Enquiries to Assessment
Muswellbrook Shire Council is investigating the next stage of DAISY, which would support planners during parts of the assessment workflow.
In May 2026, Enterprise AI announced a partnership with public sector software provider Civica to integrate DAISY into Civica Altitude, its local government platform. The integration pairs DAISY Assist for applicants with DAISY Assess, which supports compliance checks, interpretation of planning controls and report drafting.
"The aim is not to automate planning decisions, but to give council teams practical tools that can help them work through information more efficiently," Ross said.
Enterprise AI says council planners remain responsible for all assessments and determinations. DAISY received the Planning Institute of Australia's 2025 NSW Award for Performance and Innovation.
The rollout comes as NSW tries to speed housing approvals. In September 2025 the NSW Government launched an initiative to introduce AI into the assessment of state significant development applications. Enterprise AI says DAISY was then the only AI solution live under the government's Early Adopters Program.
The Urban Development Institute of Australia NSW says the state delivered 91,300 homes in the first two years of the National Housing Accord. That left it 59,500 homes short of its target for the period. On current trends it could fall 150,000 short of its five-year target, according to UDIA NSW.
Not every council has kept the tool. Wingecarribee Shire Council, which launched DAISY in May 2025, is progressively removing it after completing a 15-month pilot, The Southern Wire reported in September.
Blacktown City Council also uses DAISY, and is one of 16 NSW councils deploying AI tools for planning enquiries.