Development Assessment Panels are independent decision-making bodies with the power to determine high value development applications in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. The panels contain five members—three industry professionals and two elected members of the local government. The purpose of the panels is to introduce more consistent decision-making into the determination of development applications and to refocus the attention of elected members in local governments on higher-level strategic planning and policy matters. The panels share characteristics of panels set up by other Australian states for similar reasons.

Background

Development Assessment Panels where introduced to Western Australia in 2011 by the Barnett government with support from the opposition Labor party. The removal of the decision-making power from elected Councillors was opposed by the

Western Australian Local Government Association Western Australian Local Government Association (WALGA) is an organisation of local government bodies in Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area ...

, the Local Government Planners Association and some members of the community.

Controversy

Community opposition

Most DAP approvals where uncontroversial, however since 2011, several projects received DAP approval over strong community objections and resulting media coverage. This included an approval for the Lumier apartment development in South Perth which was overturned following an appeal to the Supreme Court in 2016.

Scrap the DAP

Scrap the DAP was a community campaign during the

2017 Western Australian state election The 2017 Western Australian state election was held on Saturday 11 March 2017 to elect members to the Parliament of Western Australia, including all 59 seats in the Legislative Assembly and all 36 seats in the Legislative Council. The eight-a ...

advocating for the abolition of independent Development Assessment Panels. The campaign was supported by 21 Councils of 38 metropolitan

local governments Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

and opposed by groups associated with the property and development industry. The movement was not endorsed by either major party, although community concerns where acknowledged. Following the election, many of the individuals associated with the movement have continued to advocate for the reform or abolition of the panels under various other slogans and community associations. No council has passed a motion condemning the DAP process since 2017.

References

Western Australia Urban planning Perth, Western Australia Political campaigns {{Australia-poli-stub