I move my amendment No.1 on sheet c2025-227A: "No. 1Bush fire prone land" (Page 30, Schedule 1[152], lines 32 and 33.) Omit all words on the lines.
This amendment stops the removal of section 10.3 regarding bushfire-prone land mapping from the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act. Section 10.3 requires councils to map bushfire-prone land in their local government area every five years. The RFS provides guidelines, and certifies that maps meet those guidelines. Bushfire-prone land mapping is important because it provides the trigger for applying systemic scrutiny of bushfire risk to rezoning proposals and development applications. Mapping is the foundation of consistent, risk-based assessment, and this amendment secures it in statute. This is a significant, and I thank the Government for listening to feedback that removing this section would be unwise.
Other States, including Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania, have bushfire-prone land mapping as a statutory requirement, and New South Wales should too. I originally proposed an amendment that kept bushfire‑prone mapping in legislation and also shifted responsibility for mapping entirely to the RFS in consultation with councils, rather than being initiated by local councils. This is not where the Government landed, but it remains my position. It is clear that in some councils, there is a lack of resources and/or capability to update maps. In others, there is inertia to provide for the continuous changes that are necessary. The RFS is best placed for this role, with the expertise, capacity and resources to undertake mapping across the State. This shift would also be consistent with the findings and recommendations of the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, which noted that mapping should be centralised and placed within fire services.
Notwithstanding that, I move this amendment to omit from the bill the removal of section 10.3 to preserve bushfire-prone land mapping in the Act, providing important certainty and continuity for industry and the community. I plead with the Government to fund and coordinate updated mapping across the State to ensure that it is accurate.
Read the entire second reading debate in the NSW Hansard here