House and dollar cycle on chalk board
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New Proposed ‘Housing and Productivity Contribution Scheme Works-in-Kind Guideline’

On 1 October 2023, the NSW Government introduced the Housing and Productivity Contribution Scheme (HPCS), which enables the NSW Government to collect housing and productivity contributions from residential, commercial, and industrial developments to fund state and regional infrastructure within the following regions:

  • Central Coast
  • Greater Sydney
  • Illawarra-Shoalhaven
  • Lower Hunter

Under Part 3 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment (Housing and Productivity Contributions) Order 2024 (HPC Order), housing and productivity contributions are ordinarily made as monetary contributions. However, clause 18(2) permits developers, by agreement with the Minister, to dedicate land or carry out capital works (or both) for regional infrastructure (Works-in-Kind), in whole or in part, as an alternative to meeting their monetary contributions. [...]  READ MORE →

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Personal Information & Data Breaches – Obligations for NSW State and Local Government Entities

The recent data breaches involving Optus and Telstra highlight the potential risks facing businesses and entities that collect and store personal information.

Where entities employ individuals, those entities are required by law to collect and keep various forms of personal information relating to their employees. Such information can include employees’ contact information, health information, banking details, and tax file numbers.

For NSW state public sector and local government entities, the obligations relating to the collection, retention, use and disclosure of personal information are set out in the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW) (PPIP Act). [...]  READ MORE →

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New State Environmental Planning Policy for Housing Imminent

In December 2020, the New South Wales government announced its intention to introduce major reforms to the planning policies for housing.

The reforms were to be introduced in multiple phases. Phases 1 and 2 had been rolled out in late 2020 and early 2021. These reforms include amendments to the existing State Environmental Planning Policy (Affordable Rental Housing) 2009 (ARH SEPP) and introduction of the State Environmental Planning Policy Amendment (Build-to-rent Housing) 2021 (BTRH SEPP). The BTRH SEPP, notably, introduced purpose-built rental apartment buildings as a new type of land use, and permits these build-to-rent apartments to be developed on any zone where multi dwelling house, residential flat buildings, and shop top housing are permitted. [...]  READ MORE →