The NSW Productivity Commission in November released its final report on the Review of Infrastructure Contributions in NSW (PC Review). It controversially ruled out capturing a share of windfall gains made from rezonings or the granting of additional development, even though this is widely used in voluntary planning agreements (VPAs) and state infrastructure contributions (SIC). Planning controls ration access to development rights for the benefit and amenity of the community, and enable those...

Melbourne is a city divided. Of its five most disadvantaged municipalities, four of them have the most active COVID-19 cases. The fifth disadvantaged area is Dandenong, where the Spotless laundry is. In Brimbank, in Melbourne's west the number of active cases is in excess of 800 - that's more than 10 times the level of Boroondara in the leafy inner east...

Each day that bushfire smoke descends on Sydney and workers down tools while shoppers stay at home, estimates by SGS Economics and Planning show the city's economy bleeds up to $50 million. As firefighters battle to contain blazes, economists are beginning to tally the cost of lost worker output, transport interruptions and reduced spending.

Ellen Witte, economist and partner at SGS Economics and Planning, says that the new research by Perth’s Edith Cowan University into using the coastal vegetation in Australia to combat climate change, is worthwhile but doesn't take coastal residential developments into account and that the sea levels will keep rising. According to Ellen living along the Australian coastlines will become too expensive to insure and too risky. Listen to the interview.

As Sydney's population surges, people with creative, highly skilled jobs are safe from automation. But what does it mean for others? Modelling by SGS Economics and Planning, one of Australia’s most respected regional economics firms, shows a narrow strip of land running from the airport through the CBD and North Sydney to Macquarie Park is dominating the city's growth...

The Australian economy would be $550 billion better off by 2030 through reducing carbon emissions to stem the impact of damaging climate change, a new report has found. Described as the first comparison of the costs of emission reduction relative to the potential damages from climate change under current policy settings, the report by SGS and the Melbourne Sustainable Societies Institute at the University of Melbourne finds Australia is on track for $535 billion in economic damage within a decade, if global emissions continue at their current rate.