First National Real Estate CEO, Ray Ellis, supports the call from the Australian Local Government Association for a national planning authority but says Australia’s problems with its planning processes go far beyond the single issue of coastal climate change planning and require a major overhaul.

“It’s very myopic to just consider this one issue in isolation of what is happening in other areas of the property market around this country,” Mr Ellis said.

“In Queensland, they are working off two year old planning approvals, while NSW planning approvals have dropped dramatically in recent times.

“And, while Victoria has just posted strong planning approval figures for some years, this is a result of a minister wielding a big stick rather than systemic structural changes.”

Mr Ellis agreed that the confusion created by inconsistent sea level rise predictions makes planning and development increasingly difficult on coastal regions, but more importantly have the potential to impact negatively on the property market in general.

“Home owners and other property market pundits need certainty around property prices so that they can make decisions based on facts and consistent information,” Mr Ellis said.

“It’s all well and good to say that the responsibility for planning rests with state and local government, but ultimately, a consistent, unified and national approach needs to be considered in the property market.

“This is unsustainable and I can’t think of any other industry that would operate with this level of uncertainty and confusion.”