As governments across Australia show increasing appetite to revisit and reform our environmental and planning regimes, there is a rare opportunity to seize this moment of change and leverage new technologies to accelerate progress even further.

New tools powered by artificial intelligence are demonstrating huge potential both at home and abroad. Heightened access to information and AI support for government officials is generating millions of dollars in savings annually. At the same time, new technology is redefining how the public can engage with and understand the impacts that development has on them and their environment, supporting deeper transparency and participation.

But the pace of change and breadth of options available to policymakers and agencies is overwhelming. And while there is no shortage of general advice on technology adoption or artificial intelligence, there is little guidance that considers the sensitivities unique to the approvals process, much less so in an Australian context.

This report fills that gap, tailoring advice specifically to approvals use cases. It identifies what’s possible, what’s emerging and what to do about it.

Technology moves fast. Implemented well, it can help our approvals system move faster too.