South Australia has long been a world-leader in the push to respond to rapid climate change.

A key effort in continuing this success is the ability to quickly reduce carbon emission across all sectors of our economy to meet our net-zero targets, while maximising the economic opportunities that will flow from the transition.

Transitioning to net-zero means there will be a growing number of developments planned, assessed and approved, from existing facilities looking to decarbonise or newly proposed projects looking to leverage our abundant renewables, minerals and industrial legacy.

The Bill also forms part of South Australia’s response to the national housing crisis, Our Housing Roadmap. The roadmap identifies a range of actions to deliver more homes quickly. These include innovative, sensible planning and regulatory reforms, as proposed through the SDCF Bill.

What is being proposed?

The purpose of the SDCF Bill is to help South Australia address these challenges by enabling a more proactive, place-based and efficient approach to regulating major projects and development areas.

The proposed legislation:

• establishes the concept of ‘state development areas’ – ‘go zones’, such as net-zero industry precincts, which have been proactively assessed by regulators as environmentally and economically suitable for facilitating key developments at pace
• enables the proactive application of regulatory processes
• streamlines the provision of enabling infrastructure for housing, major developments and development areas
• allows for the responsible streamlining of regulatory processes, where possible
• improves consultation and regulatory coordination through an enhanced one-window-to-government mechanism, managed by a new Coordinator-General’s Office
• maintains our existing Acts and protections

These new functions will allow South Australia to remain competitive, seize a world-leading position in clean industries, respond to the challenges posed by climate change, and help address the state’s urgent housing needs.

Why is the SDCF Bill necessary?

Across Australia and around the world, governments, regulators and industry are responding with ambitious reforms to better plan, coordinate, de-risk and speed up development, to address the urgent challenges of decarbonisation, tackling the housing crisis, and seizing the once-in-a-generation economic opportunities that new and net-zero industries present.

It is critical that South Australia has the tools it needs to remain ahead of the curve in its efforts to reduce emissions and drive clean industry growth.

The SDCF Bill is intended to ensure the right developments occur in the right locations, delivering appropriate economic, environmental and social outcomes – and do so more quickly.

Consultation details

Consultation via YourSAy is open for 4 weeks and closes on 30 August.

A summary report of feedback will be released as soon as possible after this time. The public feedback will inform how the final Bill is refined before it is introduced to Parliament.