Commentary You have to wonder whether Australia’s federal and state Labor governments are trying to drive private landlords out of the residential market. It would be perverse behaviour when Australia has a housing rental and home ownership crisis, but the only alternative explanation is incompetence. In the first place, they’ve set the country up for…

The New South Wales (NSW) planning minister has proposed a novel solution to Australia’s housing crisis—using artificial intelligence to speed up building approvals. Paul Scully says AI technology, like ChatGPT, could help developers fast-track building consents by identifying issues with proposals before they are submitted for approval. He has directed his department to conduct a “global search”…