Determine DA

Who determines State significant development applications? 

The Independent Planning Commission (IPC) is the consent authority for a development application (DA) for State Significant Development (SSD) if the applicant is not a public authority, and at least one of the below; 

•  the local council has made a submission objecting to the application 
• the Department has received 50 or more public objections in response to the exhibition of the application (petitions and submissions that contain substantially the same text count as one objection) 
• the applicant has made a reportable political donation. 

The only exception to this is for in-fill affordable housing SSD applications (Section 26A of Schedule 1 of the Planning Systems SEPP). For these applications the only automatic trigger for IPC referral is where the applicant has made a reportable political donation. The difference in requirements aims to speed up the delivery of affordable housing projects. It also means the IPC can focus on more contentious and complex SSD applications, improving overall efficiency and resource allocation. 

The commission operates independently of the department and other government departments and plays an important role in building community confidence in the SSD process. 

When determining a DA, the commission may: 

• undertake a site inspection or tour of the local area 
• hold a public meeting 
• hold meetings with key stakeholders and publish the records of these meetings 
• hold a public hearing, if requested by the Minister. 
• the commission’s policies and guideline for these activities can be found here. 
• the Minister for Planning is the consent authority for all other DAs for State significant development. The Minister has delegated power for certain decisions to senior officers of the department.  
• for more information about delegations please visit the delegated decisions page.