Dear fellow Tasmanians: This is outrageous

Ald Jeremy Ball
On Tuesday April 7 150 people gathered at the Launceston City Council (LCC) at very short notice, outraged at the way in which the Minister for Planning, David Llewellyn, above, is rushing through major changes to the Planning System that have enormous implications for every municipality in Tasmania.

The proposed changes are massive and are being pushed through with NO PUBLIC CONSULTATION at all, which goes againt the principles of public participation enshrined at the heart of the Tasmanian Resource Management and Planning System.

These changes, which are touched on in more detail below, are set to go to parliament next month and the government is closing any comment on them by April 17. The Local Government of Tasmania (LGAT) is taking comment until April 15.

They are contained in the attached ‘Consultation Paper’ which does not seem to have been made public.

Below is the feedback I have given LCC on the proposed changes but PLEASE if you care about due process, public participation, sustainable planning, sensitive management of coastal (or any!) development, democracy, good governance and the ethical development of public policy; call for the clock to be stopped on this process immediately until proper public consultation has occurred.

Below are the key emails to send comments to;
CEO of LGAT: Allan Garcia Email: allan.garcia@lgat.tas.gov.au
David Llewellyn, Minister for Planning: david.llewellyn@parliament.tas.gov.au
Peter Fischer, Dept of Justice, State Planning advisor: peter.fischer@justice.tas.gov.au

Please also cc your local council to let them know your feelings.

Thanks

Jeremy Ball (Alderman LCC)
jeremy.ball@launceston.tas.gov.au

Feedback to LCC re Planning System Review

On Tuesday April 7 approximately 150 people attended a Launceston City Council (LCC) public meeting to voice their concerns about the major changes to the Tasmanian Planning scheme, proposed by the state government, which are currently being rushed through at lightening speed by the Minister for Planning David Llewellyn and the Department of Justice.

There has been no public consultation on the massive changes contained in the government’s Consultation Paper released at the end of March and all comment has to be in to the Local Government Association of Tasmanian (LGAT) by April 15 as the government is only taking submissions until April 17. Legislation is expected to be tabled in parliament by May 19.

The fact that there has been no public consultation on the proposed changes appears to be in contradiction of Recommendation 1 from the Steering Committee’s report that the government release proposed structure and changes to the Planning System for public comment.

The fact that there has been no public consultation also goes against the principle of democratic participation in the planning system by the public, which is enshrined in the RMPS.

As I write this there are only three working days left to get comprehensive comments to the LGAT which is farcical.

Due to the above issues the primary recommendation by LCC to the LGAT and Minister must be;

Key recommendation.

That the clock is stopped immediately on the review of the Planning System until a formal timeline of public consultation is agreed to by the Minister, LGAT and Tasmanian councils which will allow for the full implications of the proposed changes to the Planning System to be properly explored, debated and assessed.

If LCC begins to take part in the consultation process underway it tacitly endorses the lack of public consulation which is in contravention of the RMPS.

Points to express to LGAT from the public meeting at LCC;

At the conclusion Alderman Ball tested the meeting with two propositions that received unanimous acclamation.

1 That due to the absence of consultation and proper debate on the proposed changes to the Tasmanian Planning System the meeting has no trust in the changes proposed in the Consultation Paper.
2 The meeting requests Launceston City Council to take a lead role in gauging other councils resistance to the proposed changes and to take those concerns to the Local Government Association of Tasmania (LGAT)

The other points listed below are just some of my concerns, which, in the absence of proper explanation from Dept of Justice and public consultation, reject the vast majority of changes proposed in the Consultation paper.

• TPC must be seen to be independent from government and so there must be no commissioners from government departments such as DIER or Dept of Just. sitting as commissioners on the TPC.

• Reject proposed changes which give the Minister wide ranging powers particularly through the creation of Projects of Regional Significance (PoRS), meaning developments can be taken away from councils at the request of a developer (or for a myriad of other reasons) and once a decision is made on the project by a Draft Assessment Panel it’s final and can’t be appealed in the RMPAT.

• Reject the proposal of PoRS as developments can get the go ahead even if prohibited under the local Planning Scheme.

• Reject the proposed changes that the Regional Planning Project MOUs being made law so that if the proposed Tasmanian Planning Commission (TPC) decides to change a regional plan, a local council like Launceston would be forced to arbitrarily change our planning scheme to comply, even if it went against our scheme.

• Reject the proposal that the Minister can call in projects where a council is perceived to have shown bias.

• Reject the proposal that the Minister can call in a project if it involves land or a type of development identified in regulations as the regulations haven’t been made public and this allows for extraordinary powers to be included through regulation.

Conclusion.

Due to the undemocratic and arguably, unethical, manner and speed at which these changes are being pushed through it is critical that LCC and LGAT take the strongest possible stance on this issue and call on the Minister to stop the clock on the review process until a formal timeline of public and consultation is agreed to by the Minister, LGAT and Tasmanian councils which will allow for the full implications of the proposed changes to the Planning System to be properly explored, debated and assessed.

LCC and LGAT are to be commended for the stance they are taking on this is issue however an extremely vocal and public rejection of the process should occur immediately from both LGAT and LCC as concurrence with the government’s timeline and allowance of this process to continue as scheduled, would be a betrayal of the principles enshrined in the Resource Management and Planning System and a rejection of the democratic rights of the residents and ratepayers of Launceston and Tasmania as a whole.

Ald Jeremy Ball
April 8 2009