Tasmania councils reveal AI plan to fast-track development approvals

Artificial intelligence would be used to streamline council planning process under a proposed plan from the Local Government Association of Tasmania. How AI is currently being used in councils.

AI would be used to streamline council planning processes under a proposed plan from the LGAT. Picture: istock

Artificial intelligence would be used to streamline council planning processes under a proposed plan from the Local Government Association of Tasmania.

LGAT is currently investigating the potential use of AI to review development applications, with it being used to help developers identify site-specific requirements and support council officers to find “non-complying quantitative elements”.

It comes after similar initiatives were rolled out within councils in Victoria and New South Wales, with LGAT CEO Dion Lester saying their experience would be drawn on to help identity an appropriate AI suppler in Tasmania.

Dion Lester – Chief Executive Officer of the Local Government Association of Tasmania

Mr Lester said its implementation was aimed at reducing the workload of planners.

“Councils in Tasmania and nationally are experiencing a chronic shortage of planners,” he said.

“This work will help support the existing workforce to deliver development assessment processes.”

The matter is set to be addressed at the upcoming LGAT general meeting, which will take place next Friday.

Devonport City Council Deputy CEO Jeffrey Griffith said he was pleased to see other councils embracing AI in their practices.

“It’s better that all of our government organisations and certainly businesses be on the front foot in building a strategy to implement the safe and effective use of AI within their work,” he said.

“Ten years from today the landscape will be radically changed when it comes to AI and organisations.

“There’s no avoiding it, so it’s best that we prepare.”

Artificial intelligence tool for data analysis in business.

Devonport City Council is one of the few in Tasmania using AI, having introduced the state’s first usage policy for employees two years ago.

Since then it has introduced a chatbot on its website, and invested in AI “companion” Microsoft Copilot, as well as data collection services.

“AI is good at taking notes and capturing the actions from the conversation that’s been had. So it saves a lot of time, from an admin perspective, in pulling together council minutes,” he said.

“We are actively testing and exploring ways to automate more of our planning applications and other licenses like dog registrations, for example.”

Job cuts due to automation he said, were “not a consideration” within the council.

“What we’ve told our employees is that they will be able to reclaim their time from those tedious admin tasks and invest that into high value customer facing activities,” he said.

“And because we’ve been consistent in that over the years, they trust that with the rollout of AI.”

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Quan Bai, associate professor of information and communication technology at the University of Tasmania, said AI could be of benefit in applying “rules and policies uniformly across all applications”.

“AI excels at repetitive tasks such as conducting initial assessments or compiling required documentation,” he said.

“(But) a human-in-the-loop approach is essential to maintain oversight and accountability.”