NSW's Land iQ secures $11m in funding

NSW’s land use technology platform Land iQ has secured more than $11 million in state and federal funding to support its work identifying surplus and underutilised public land for housing.

The two-year funding, which includes $7.5 million from the NSW Government and $3.6 million in joint funding from the Commonwealth and the state as part of the Disaster Ready Fund, will also be used to help extend the use of the platform to other sectors involving land planning.

The Land iQ platform brings more than 40 land use data types together to make it easier to search more than eight million lots and properties across the state and quickly test different scenarios for land use.

The platform was developed following recommendations from the independent 2022 NSW Flood Inquiry to consolidate land use risk data to support strategic planning.

Funding provided by the federal government will also be used to explore extending the use of the platform to other states and territories across Australia.

NSW Minister for Housing Rose Jackson said the tool could potentially help the state address the ongoing housing crisis.

“We need more housing as quickly as possible; this platform speeds up the time to get to a formal proposal or development application. All government agencies and councils using a shared platform with shared data means time and money that would otherwise be wasted will be going towards fixing the housing crisis,” she said.

“We are rebuilding our housing system after over a decade of neglect. This will help streamline planning to ensure our focus is on fast-tracking the delivery of more homes, and not on bureaucratic barriers.”

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