Fighting the undead can be tiring work.
A community group advocating for koalas on the New South Wales mid-north coast says battling "zombie DAs" (development approvals) has left its members "exhausted" and "traumatised".
The phrase "Zombie DAs" is used to describe decades-old development approvals often granted under previous planning controls, sometimes up to 50 years ago.
They are incomplete, but enough work has been done to keep the approvals valid.
Further south, the founder of the Manyana Matters Environmental Association describes the phenomenon as a "plague" on the coastline.
Jorj Lowrey stands in south coast bushland containing littoral rainforest recently approved for clearing. (ABC Illawarra: Romy Gilbert)
"It's like a cancer that is going to eat away the last of our precious forests," Jorj Lowrey said.
She said the community at Manyana had been fighting a 16-year-old DA to build more than 150 homes in a littoral rainforest for almost five years.
'Don't have a time machine'
Zombie DAs often do not reflect modern environmental, social and cultural values, which has raised concerns about the NSW planning system.
Two current parliamentary inquiries have been tasked with investigating the issue, including one that will examine historical development consents, and another that is looking into the planning system and the impacts of climate change on the environment and communities.
Both were established towards the end of 2023, and have held public hearings with communities from all over NSW this year.
Labor Member for Cessnock Clayton Barr is chair of the lower-house inquiry into historical development consents.
He said his committee would not be looking at retrospective fixes for current approvals.
Mr Barr said there was a "real risk and concern" when it came to changing the legal frameworks around approvals.
"There could be significant compensation costs and payments that would need to be made should a developer currently have a development taken away from them," he said.
Mr Barr estimated compensation costs could run into hundreds of millions of dollars in some cases.
Greens MLC Sue Higginson and Cessnock Labor MP Clayton Barr are both chairing inquiries touching on the issue. (ABC News: Col Kerr/Nick Dole)
Greens MLC Sue Higginson is chairing the planning system inquiry, which is set to make recommendations to the NSW government next month.
She said under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act consent authorities had the power to revoke historical approvals, but it was yet to happen due to fear of compensation.
"I have not yet come across a council that feels they have the strength and the powers, as well as the courage, to do that and not be liable to pay a developers opportunity-lost cost," she said.
"The government can pass legislation that says fair and square, if a matter is in the public interest then the law should provide for that public interest and a compensation is not required," she said.
Mr Barr said his inquiry would seek an understanding of why powers to revoke historical approvals under the act were not being used.
"The very purpose of it sitting in law is to allow for its implementation, otherwise you wouldn't put it in there," he said.
Other options being discussed include implementing stricter commencement time frames and setting up a register to understand how many historical consents exist.
"I would hope in the future we're not offering up open-ended 'use it whenever you want to use it' sort of development approvals going forward," Mr Barr said.
"But I don't have a time machine to go back to 1998 or 2008."
Community goals
While politicians look to the future, local activists are more concerned with what is happening on the ground right now.
Manyana Matters wants the state government to reassess the 2008 subdivision approval in its area, and for the local council to revoke the construction certificate it granted in 2019.
But Shoalhaven City Council expressed concern around revoking the construction certificate (CC) in a statement to the ABC.
Minister for Planning Paul Scully says he doesn't have the power to revoke the Shoalhaven approval. (ABC Illawarra: Justin Huntsdale)
"The legal ability to revoke a CC has a variety of risks and legal implications," a spokesperson said.
Minister for Planning Paul Scully said "neither me [nor] the department have the power to revoke, withdraw or reassess the approval".
On the mid-north coast, the Hallidays Point Community Action Group is pushing back against a 2004 approval for an aged-care facility inside a 10-hectare wildlife corridor.
Kym Kilpatrick is a member of the action group who is frustrated with the status quo.
Barbara Richardson and Kym Kilpatrick want a 2004 DA inside a koala corridor to be reassessed. (ABC Mid North Coast: Wiriya Sati)
"It's exhausting and I am seeing other people traumatised and exhausted too," she said.
"We know that habitat destruction and fragmentation is one of the major drivers of extinction."
Annsca Property Group Mid Coast bought the Hallidays Point aged care development four years ago.
Hallidays Point Community Action Group has been fighting since 2019 to protect what they say is important koala habitat. (ABC Mid North Coast: Wiriya Sati)
Project manager David Calgaro said in a statement that he objected to the term "zombie DA".
"The 'zombie DA' is an emotive term coined by the Greens to try and scare people into voting for them, it was done purely for political advantage," he said.
"If someone is willing to buy a site and expend the vast quantity of money that it takes to hold a site while they pay for all the reports and designs required … then continue to pay … and endure the endless delays during the assessment process and you finally get it through, you have generally earnt it."
The Hallidays Point Community Action Group members say they fear for the future of Australian wildlife. (ABC Mid North Coast: Wiriya Sati)