Who's doing the heavy lifting in NSW Planning?

Next time you meet with a DPHI Director and they seem overworked, it may be because they are carrying a significant share of the Department’s leadership load.

NSW Planning is implementing what the Government describes as the most significant overhaul of the EP&A Act in a generation.

That sits alongside the Housing Delivery Authority, Development Coordination Authority, Transport Oriented Development Program, Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy, Housing Pattern Book, new Sydney Plan, state-wide Community Participation Plan, targeted assessment pathways, referral reforms and numerous other initiatives.

Against that background, I was interested to see how the Department’s Senior Executive Bands have evolved.

There were 206 Senior Executives in 2024–25, which is 43% fewer than the 2020–21 peak, but still around 30% more than in 2018–19.

Returning to the 2018–19 level would require almost 50 fewer Directors. That seems difficult to reconcile with the scale of the current reform and delivery agenda.

Particularly as Directors now represent almost 80% of the Department’s Senior Executive Band. As a collective leadership group, they appear to be doing much of the heavy lifting.

The numbers do not tell us whether the NSW team is the right size. They do show where much of the responsibility for turning an ambitious reform agenda into implementation now sits.

Good Ministers need good senior executive teams, especially during periods of major reform.

If Paul Scully remains Planning Minister until the March 2027 State Election, he will be within four days of becoming the third-longest-serving holder of the portfolio since 1973. Only Craig Knowles and Andrew Refshauge will have served longer.

Here’s to the Minister’s longevity, and a lighter leadership load for the Directors helping to deliver his ambitious reform agenda.