“To achieve great things, two things are needed—a plan and not quite enough time.” Tick and tick. Queensland’s new State Planner Peta Harwood has both. And as the political winds of change would have it, she is the right person, in the right place, at the right time. Given the prevailing challenges, however—notably a housing crisis compounded by strong headwinds in the state’s development and construction sector—her success in the new role will require much more than the two prerequisites famously espoused by late US composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein. Fortunately, for everyone concerned she has plenty to draw upon. Harwood has an impressive resume of 30 years of town planning experience—including more than a decade of senior roles in the Queensland Government and Brisbane City Council. Speaking exclusively to The Urban Developer , it is also clear she has a strong desire to work with local government and the development industry to “bring certainty to our planning system and investor confidence”. “Ultimately, the state sets the agenda...and we need to be realistic about what’s going to be achieved on the ground rather than always pitching for best practice,” she says. “I've got the understanding of how it is in local government and I've got the understanding of how it actually works for the development industry and what they can actually deliver, what they can bring to market and how they can actually make things happen. So I'm hoping that practical knowledge will really help in this role.” Reducing red tape to speed up planning processes such as zoning changes and pulling levers to unlock new land for development as well as enabling more densification and opening up state assessment pathways are all in sharp focus. Harwood put her feet under the desk of the state’s top planning job at the end of January. ▲ Harwood assumed the position in January of this year. On top of that desk—among an ever-growing pile of things to do—is not just a plan but 13 regional plans the state’s LNP government has committed to deliver across its three-year term since being elected to power last October. “It’s a very ambitious program,” Harwood—who is also the state's deputy director-general, planning—says without flinching. “Previously, there’s only ever been one year where there’s been more than two regional plans delivered in history. So we’ll be really having our skates on to deliver 13 regional plans in this term.” The regional plans are long-term strategic documents that guide land use planning across the length and breadth of Queensland. And, therefore, provide a crucial blueprint for growth, investment and development. “Through those regional plans we’re reviewing what each region actually needs for growth and where the growth areas need to be, and matching that with an infrastructure plan as well, which actually enables those areas to go ahead,” Harwood says. Collaboration with local governments will be key to pulling off the exercise in such a limited time frame. “Look, we’ve obviously got a housing crisis and in the past the relationship with local government hasn’t been as good as it could have been,” she says. “But we do rely on local government. They do the heavy lifting with all of the development approvals which leads to housing and other development. And we really need to work hand-in-hand with local government. So that’s one of my priorities.” To date, work is already well advanced on a new Far North Queensland Regional Plan and it will be the first to go to public consultation with others to follow. ▲ Queensland State Planner Peta Harwood: We really need to work hand-in-hand with local government. Clearly, the pressure is on within the remit of her new role and Harwood is acutely aware that planning has never been more critical. “As with any bureaucrat in the Queensland Government, my job is to deliver on the government’s policy agenda of the day, first and foremost,” she says. “But also I guess the role has a certain expectation and accountability that comes with it in terms of being the lead planner in the state. So I take that role pretty seriously in terms of what I want to achieve.” Queensland Premier David Crisafulli and his LNP government have set a target of a million new homes—including 53,500 social and community homes—being delivered throughout the state by 2044. “It’s a little bit daunting,” Harwood concedes. “Depending on the population projections you look at, we’re sort of talking about anywhere between 37,000 and 40,000 new homes needed every year. “And, look, it’s never going to be linear. We know that the development industry has been cyclical for many, many decades because it relies on so many factors … not only development approvals and opening up land but it’s also impacted by cost of supply, ability to get labour, all those things as well as finance and interest rates. “But we also know that we’ve delivered the numbers in south-east Queensland that we need to deliver before. So we just need some of those conditions to line up for us. “And I do believe in targets,” she adds. “But I also believe as long as we keep progressing and we keep improving that’s still better than sitting on our hands and not having targets to be aspirational about.” Maintaining that momentum will involve multiple strategies to help enable the state's development and construction sector to overcome the challenges of delivery it continues to endure. “It’s about talking to the industry and understanding where their feasibilities are being squeezed and, you know, if we can allow a few extra stories in some areas, that might just be the trigger to them actually proceeding with the development,” Harwood says. “Or if we can fund the infrastructure charges…or help provide for some critical infrastructure, it might just open up a new housing front where they haven’t had the confidence or the feasibility, or even the bank backing to get started, even though they’ve got approval.” ▲ Townsville: Through those regional plans we’re reviewing what each region actually needs for growth, Peta Harwood says. Somewhere on her desk Harwood is also leaving some space for planning issues relating to the 2032 Brisbane Olympics and Paralympics. “I haven’t had input yet,” she says. “But I certainly will be more and more involved going forward in terms of, in particular, what the land use is around the venues and the [athlete] villages, so that we’re actually getting that legacy impact. “There’s a real opportunity there to get some density and some other development happening around that that’s complementary, ultimately, to having a thriving city.” Meanwhile, however, there’s a couple of major stumbling blocks that need to be addressed. Firstly, the dearth of skilled workers in the state's development and construction industry. According to a recently released workforce report by Construction Skills Queensland, the sector is facing an average worker shortfall of 18,200 a year over the next eight years. Meaning, there simply won’t be enough workers to build all the projects ahead. But Harwood is by no means someone who will stand by and watch all her good planning for Queensland go to waste. “We’re always in competition with our [interstate] counterparts,” she says. “Ultimately, we need more builders. We need more labour supply. And if we can bring certainty to our planning system and investor confidence, we’ll hopefully be able to bring more tier one builders back into our state. So I think that’s what we can do as planners.” But, with a vested interest, she can’t help but additionally note: “We also have a shortage of town planners. And more growth, means more applications, means the need for more planners”. Somewhat more troublesome is the second and what Harwood regards as perhaps the “most challenging thing” going forward. “The community stigma around density,” she says.  The acronym doesn't pass her lips but she’s talking about NIMBYism—the Not In My Back Yard mentality to so-called undesirable development. “I think we are seeing changing attitudes towards density but it’s still there … and there’s definitely still a community stigma around affordable housing. “South-east Queensland, in particular, is still a very popular place to come. We live in a great place with great weather. And it’s only going to become increasingly popular with things like the Olympic and Paralympic Games. “So to cater for that growth it’s about creating different housing options…and those attitudes need change.” And as another notable American—namely founding father Benjamin Franklin—once famously uttered: “If you fail to plan you are planning to fail”. That is not an option on Harwood’s watch.
