The nation’s leading business lobby group wants builders and developers with housing plans they are willing to back to be able to bypass local councils and ask state and territory governments to rezone land, under a market-led system that would speed up development.

State and territory governments also need to undertake extensive rezoning to boost medium- and high-density housing in urban centres with existing services and transport, as well as standardising zoning across their jurisdictions, the Business Council of Australia said.