Bob McMahon
TAP into a Better Tasmania is alarmed about the State Government’s proposed changes to regional planning about to be rushed through Parliament.
Spokesman Bob McMahon said, “The Government is aiming to curtail the involvement of local councils and the public in regional planning, and ram this legislation through Parliament while keeping it under the radar.”

The opportunity for council comment closes in less than a week.

Good government acts in the best interests of the people, with full and open periods of public consultation but, Mr McMahon continued, “The new planning legislation threatens to be government of the people, for the developer by a small group of powerful members in Labor caucus.”

“The new planning laws appear tailor-made to overcome landowner resistance to Gunns’ water pipeline, or an application like Forest Enterprises’ plan for plantations at Lilydale, or the plan by DIER to install T-junctions for the East Tamar Highway instead of safer roundabouts promoted by the Launceston City Council. In all these and similar cases, the community and their councils could be shut out,” he said.

There is a public information forum to be held on Tuesday 21 April from 12.30 – 1.30 pm at Civic Square, Launceston.

According to TAP Into a Better Tasmania, the proposed planning law provides –

1. Inadequate time for public comment despite its enormous impact on every Tasmanian.

2. More ministerial executive power and less community say on development projects.

3. More secrecy that opens the way for project developers to curry favour with substantial donations to election campaigns. There is no requirement for the Minister to make public any decisions made about projects deemed to be of regional significance.

4. Severely restricted rights to appeal planning decisions.

5. Local planning regulations over-ridden to comply with a potentially controversial, Government-backed development.

6. Tunnel-vision economic assessment of projects. The impacts on society and the environment seem to be excluded.

7. Politicisation of regional planning with powers to remove a project from local councils if the “Minister forms the opinion” that a council has shown bias towards or against a project before it is assessed.

8. Powers to declare a Project of Regional Significance (PORS) on any land that the State identifies, simply by making a regulation. The Government has not ruled out compulsory acquisition of private land for a PORS.

More information at the TAP Into a Better Tasmania website http://www.tapvision.info/node/562