DAF believes that providing clear objective rules and tests is a more efficient and less ambiguous way to deal with development processes and will reduce assessment timeframes.

DAF has prepared a guideline on objective rules and tests to help local governments and referral agencies simplify and clearly explain the outcomes they desire for development assessment.

The Guide for Writing Objective Rules and Tests has been designed to help planners write good development assessment requirements and to promote the use of objective rules and tests as a way of expressing development assessment requirements.

The guide is a step toward greater national consistency in the way development assessment requirements are expressed. Although planning instruments can be different in their construction there are common categories of requirements.

The guide explores how objective rules and tests can be applied to these categories and how greater uniformity across jurisdictions can be achieved.