Australia urged to speed up housing with AINSW leads the charge with planned 2025 rollout.By Leonard Bernardone on Sep 04 2025 11:27 AMPrint articleAI could help manage faster home approvals. Source: ShutterstockState governments are being urged to harness artificial intelligence for speedier planning approvals as Australia falls short on its goal for 1.2 million new homes by 2029.On Monday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers called for state departments to “unlock more housing” by adopting AI after the NSW government announced it would use the technology to cut timeframes on major project assessments.“Using AI to unlock more housing is exactly the kind of thing we need to see more of if we’re going to boost productivity across our economy,” Chalmers told theAustralian Financial Review.“It’s great to see what NSW is doing in this space, and we encourage others to look at doing something similar.”Speeding up approvals was a key focus of last month’s Economic Reform Roundtable, so much so that Chalmers and the Labor government have since opted to “blitz the approvals backlog” on some 26,000 homes awaiting assessment under environmental protection laws.Last month, Housing Minister Clare O’Neil announced the government would do this partially by “piloting” AI to simplify and quicken assessments and approvals.“It’s too hard to build a home in this country,” said O’Neil.“We want builders on site, not filling in forms to get their approval.”O’Neil also declared a pause on further residential changes to the National Construction Code until mid-2029, during which time the government will “streamline” the 2000‑page code and use AI to improve its useability for “tradies, small businesses and households”.NSW will be rolling out an AI solution for development approvals this year. Photo: ChatGPTMeanwhile, the Institute of Public Affairs recently observed the federal government is over56,000 homes behind trackon its National Housing Accord target of 1.2 million homes by mid-2029.“Harnessing artificial intelligence poses real opportunities in speeding up approvals and making our economy more productive,” Chalmers said Monday.NSW aims for 2025 rolloutThis week, the NSW Minns Government declared it would be integrating AI to cut assessment timeframes in major developments.The government launched a tender for an AI solution to support assessments for State Significant Developments (SSD), which generally applies to housing projects over a specific size, in environmentally sensitive areas or exceeding certain capital investment values.According to the NSW government, the tender was announced as the state is “losing twice as many young people as it is gaining”, while Sydney’s housing market has remained thesecond-most expensive in the worldfor the second year running.Meanwhile, the average SSD assessment takes approximately eight and a half months, three months of which is spent with government.AI could help the government's goal of building 1.2 million new homes by 2029. Photo: Shutterstock“This will add an important tool to the suite of tools available to planners as they assess larger and more complex proposals,” said Paul Scully, NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces.The government will be looking for an AI solution which can conduct “intelligent review of documentation” before lodgement, accurately assess applications against key criteria, reduce assessment timeframes, and conduct post-submission checks to “accelerate finalisation”.Final decisions will be left to “human decision makers”, while Scullysaidhe wants the project “up and running by the end of 2025”.South Australia starts smallIn March, South Australia’s state government announced a smaller-scale six-month trial of AI to accelerate planning under its Automated Decision-Making Pilot.Designed primarily for limited types of dwelling applications, the technology allows users to submit CAD drawings to be automatically evaluated against prescribed criteria.“The tool will streamline assessment and decision timeframes and provide certainty in planning decisions for the construction sector and homeowners,” the SA Department for Housing and Urban Development toldInformation Age.“Our focus is on improving efficiency for standard applications, with potential for expansion in the future.”A spokesperson for Tasmania’s Department of State Growth toldInformation Agethe Local Government Association of Tasmania is investigating “the potential use of AI to streamline council development application assessments”, while the state government itself is formulating an AI policy “expected to be released later this year”.Responding to aquestion on noticein August, ACT Minister for Planning and Sustainable Development, Chris Steel, said the Territory Planning Authority “already utilises ACT Government endorsed generative AI capabilities” to assist in its processes, including to draft “some written elements in the assessment process”.A spokesperson for Queensland’s Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning saidit was “closely monitoring how digitisation and new technologies can support the planning system in Queensland with productivity and service delivery”, while the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning, WA’s Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage and the NT Department of Lands, Planning and Environment did not respond prior to deadline.Leonard BernardoneLeonard Bernardone is an award-winning techie and writer based in Melbourne. After six years working across multiple startup businesses, Leonard now works as a freelance journalist. His work strives to spread awareness, cyber safety, and technical innovation.Tags:aihousingdevelopmentpropertyapprovals