The approval of large-scale data centres and other major tech projects will be accelerated in New South Wales thanks to a new $17 million Investment Delivery Authority.
NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey handed down the state budget on Tuesday, with the launch of the new tech-focused authority and $80 million in fresh funding to support the new Innovation Blueprint.
A flagship budget item is the creation of the Investment Delivery Authority, which will accelerate approvals for major projects valued at over $1 billion, including advanced technologies and energy.
It will be modelled on the existing Housing Delivery Authority and aim to slice through red tape and coordinate government agencies to encourage more investment in the state.
“The fact is major projects from the private sector are getting bogged down in red tape, which is making it harder to do business in NSW when we should be doing everything we can to get things moving,” NSW Premier Chris Minns said.
“Our state is open for business and this change will encourage more people to bring their best ideas to life in NSW, all backed by our government.
“This reform is a big signal that NSW is not just open for business – it’s serious about being a global leader in innovation, industry and investment.”
The Authority will be supported by a multi-agency Investment Taskforce sitting within the Premier’s Department, including Secretary Simon Draper; Treasury Secretary Michael Coutts-Trotter; Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure Secretary Kiersten Fishburn; and Infrastructure NSW Chief Executive Tom Gellibrand.
It will provide advice to businesses on navigating the planning system, and evaluate large projects for fast-tracked assessment, along with coordinating the necessary infrastructure to deliver them.
It will also identify potential reforms to remove hurdles for private investment and offer government assistance to support a company if their project is chosen.
The Investment Delivery Authority will launch in the next financial year and is now accepting expressions of interest from eligible domestic and international investment projects.
It is expected to offer support to about 30 projects per year.
Driving the approval of data centres
A key focus of the new body will be accelerating the approval of new data centre projects.
NextDC CEO and managing director Craig Scroggie said that the current approval system has not kept pace with emerging technologies like AI and the data centres they require.
“AI infrastructure has outgrown traditional planning systems,” Scroggie said in a statement.
“The Authority creates a faster path from planning to execution – reducing friction, aligning government and providing the regulatory certainty private capital requires.
“This reform clears the path for accelerated approvals and long-term certainty, unlocking the investment required to deliver national capability, and positioning NSW as a global destination for next-generation digital infrastructure.”
A coalition comprising major data centre providers, including AirTrunk, Amazon Web Services, CDC Data Centres, Microsoft and NextDC, also welcomed the government announcement.
“Streamlining planning and approval processes for development permits and power allocation is an important step to help Australia capitalise on the data centre growth opportunity, and create greater certainty for developers,” the companies said in a joint statement.
“This announcement by the NSW government is an extremely positive development and we look forward to continued constructive engagement through its implementation.”
The NSW budget also included $80 million in new funding for the state’s Innovation Blueprint, which was unveiled in April.
This includes $38.5 million for the Tech Central hub, $20 million for Emerging Technology Commercialisation, $6 million to extend the existing Minimum Viable Products Ventures program and $4 million to support tech founder diversity.
“With this nearly $80 million of funding, we will ensure we nurture, grow and support the next Afterpay, Atlassian and Canva from the early stages through the most vulnerable periods of a startup’s lifecycle – particularly just before the jump to commercialisation,” NSW Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology Anoulack Chanthivong said.
Queensland’s digital focus
The Queensland government also handed down its state budget on Tuesday, led by the announcement of a $1 billion Government Digital Fund, which will “drive a coordinated approach to strategic and targeted investment in digital and IT systems across the public sector”.
The budget revealed the state government will be providing $350 million in capital expenditure for the fund.
In his budget speech, Queensland Treasurer David Janetzki said the fund will “help streamline access to government services and repair the IT systems that Labor failed to maintain”.
