Planning Office Caught Fudging Kangaroo Bay Project Job Numbers

Media release – Vica Bayley MP, Acting Greens Leader, 21 October 2024

Questions Over Kangaroo Bay Jobs Figures Undermine Major Project Declaration

Documents tabled in Parliament by the Planning Minister last week raise significant questions about the job creation figures underpinning the Kangaroo Bay development’s major project status. They also undermine the credibility of the Minister’s declaration of the proposal a major project, barely a year after its previous major project application was rejected.

A report* to Minister Felix Ellis shows the Department of Treasury raised concerns the developer “provides no information on the methodology or data” for job creation figures and therefore “the veracity of these estimates cannot be tested.” It also shows the State Planning Office then used a basic Artificial Intelligence tool to come up with some numbers to dismiss Treasury’s concern.

Using a basic AI tool to back up the claims of this developer is laughable. Doing this demonstrates a remarkable lack of interest in proper evidence, and completely undermines the credibility of the development’s status as a Major Project.

The Liberals have long been known for shameless shonkiness in giving a leg up to big developers, against the public interest. Well, this pretty much takes the cake for the most ridiculous intervention so far.

There is no solid justification for this approach, and we’re concerned about the precedent that might be set here. After all, the AI tool itself warns that it “may misrepresent the information it finds”, says some responses may be “incomplete, inaccurate, or inappropriate”, and encourages users to “double check facts before making decisions or taking action based on Copilot’s responses.”

Last year, then-Minister Michael Ferguson rejected a major project declaration application for the same proposal because it did not demonstrate regional benefits and thus, meet necessary criteria. Nothing has changed, except for the state government’s discovery and use of Artificial Intelligence as a means to make the case against its own Treasury advice.

Planning Minister Felix Ellis declared the Kangaroo Bay Project a ‘Major Project’ despite knowing Treasury had raised concerns about job creation numbers. That’s not OK.

The Eastern Shore community deserve so much better.

*Page 8 of this PDF of the Major Project declaration.

Media release – Clarence City Council, 21 October 2024

Lack of data raises further questions about validity of hotel major project status

Clarence City Council Mayor Brendan Blomeley says the unsubstantiated employment claims created through the construction and operation of the Kangaroo Bay hotel further calls into question the validity of Chambroad’s major projects submission, and the decision by the Minister for Planning.

“After the Department of Treasury and Finance said there was no methodology or data to support the stated number of jobs created, the State Planning Office used artificial intelligence to claim the numbers were ‘reasonable’ and ‘cannot be proven incorrect’,” said Mayor Blomeley.

“This is extraordinary. How can the Minister award major project status when the submission is not based on demonstrable facts and evidence.

“The idea that if something can’t be disproven then it is true, is incredibly dangerous, as is the ‘near enough is good enough’ approach of the State Planning Office.

“DPAC and the State Planning Office received expert economic advice from the Department of Treasury and Finance, but they didn’t like the answer they received.

“Instead, they used AI to try and validate Chambroad’s claimed job creation statistics. That should tell you all you need to know about the merits of this proposal.

“This also raises serious questions about the submission from the Office of the Coordinator General which states the ‘second iteration of the MPP is data-driven and evidence-based’.

“The Office of the Coordinator General has blindly supported the hotel development simply because it is a development.

“Three councils – three planning authorities – stated the proposal does not meet the Section 60M eligibility criteria, yet the State Planning Office reached a different conclusion. The State Planning Office’s actions have only served to undermine the integrity of the entire process, to the detriment of the residents of the City of Clarence.”