Tasmania has registered an “F” on the Development Assessment (DA) Report Card when compared with other states and territories according to new research from the Residential Development Council (RDC) and the Property Council of Australia.
Recent Property Council-ANZ Confidence Surveys have highlighted the property industry’s concern about the lack of DA reform in the State. This has been borne out in the Development Assessment Report Card 2012 which reveals that Tasmania has slipped from third place in 2010 to bottom in 2012 registering 5.4 out of 10.
The Development Assessment Forum (DAF) established 10 Leading Practice Principles which are designed to improve and simplify the development assessment process.
Despite claims by the State Government that planning reform is underway; the report card shows that Tasmania is still behind the eight ball when it comes to what is promised, what has been delivered and importantly, how it compares to the rest of the country.
“Tasmania’s biggest private sector industry has been calling for real planning reform that provides certainty, clarity and consistency for both the Tasmanian community and the private sector. Yet we still have a piece meal approach,” Property Council Tasmanian Executive Director Mary Massina said.
“It’s not hard to see why we are at the bottom of the report card.
“We are still yet to see a workable single residential dwelling code, despite a number of concerns that have been raised by the industry with the Government and the Tasmanian Planning Commission.
“Despite claims that there would be a multi residential development code established, it has yet to go beyond first base with no work commencing on a commercial code.
“The draft Capital City Plan for Hobart is a failure and doesn’t meet eight of the nine COAG assessment criteria.
“We are yet to have a workable process for Projects of Regional Significance and we have had more examples that demonstrate the clear need to amend the Projects of State Significance process. This is not to mention reform of Aboriginal and European heritage and environmental assessment processes.
“There is clear evidence from other jurisdictions that Development Assessment Panels (DAPs) work well. However, in Tasmania these panels are not even on the drawing board. Instead, planning
decisions remain in the hands of our 281 local councillors rather than being placed in the hands of experts on DAPs.
“Planning reform remains a core issue for our industry as a poor system is an economic handbrake on investment, economic growth and jobs.
“There was an extra $6 million allocated to the planning system in the 2011–12 budget. If it used to target the reform areas outlined in this Report Card and fully implemented we have the opportunity to make Tasmania’s planning system work.
“The local property sector genuinely wants to see Tasmania climb the national planning ladder, but it requires State and local government working along-side the industry to get it right.”
Scores:
The report card is based on the 10 DAF Leading Practice Principles:
1. Effective policy development
2. Objective rules and tests
3. Built-in improvement mechanisms
4. Track-based assessment
5. A single point of assessment
6. Notification
7. Private sector involvement
8. Professional determination for most applications
9. Applicant appeals
10. Third-party appeals
The individual performance of the states/territories in terms of their adoption of the DAF principles is provided in the table below (which did not reproduce), but is available with the report which can be downloaded from www.propertyoz.com.au
