I recently had the opportunity to lodge a motion in parliament calling for an end to so-called “zombie” development applications. “Zombie” DAs are development applications that were approved many years ago but developers only begin construction in the modern day.

This means that huge parcels of land across the state and our region do not get assessed by contemporary standards of environmental and social impact. Right now, 750 hectares of environmentally sensitive land in NSW is zoned for bulldozing without any community consultation, or any assessment under modern-day environmental or cultural impact planning laws.

We are in an extinction crisis – this shouldn’t be allowed to happen.

Communities in Brunswick Heads and Tweed are both facing the prospect of environmentally sensitive land in their communities being destroyed in favour of luxury housing developments. I asked that their opposition be noted in parliament.

Earlier this year, I joined a rally with Coastal Residents United – a collection of community groups from across New South Wales facing these decades-old development applications in coastal erosion zones – to urge the NSW government to act on this issue.

You can click here to share my motion on Facebook.