John Pitt writing in New Matilda on 30 September 2009 sounds a warning bell that all Northern Rivers residents should heed when it comes to the Rees Government approach to local development:
But there's more. In July, Planning Minister Kristina Keneally created Joint Regional Planning Panels (get the Orwellian touch?). The JRPP are, according to Keneally, "the next step in building Australia's best planning system", and "another clear step in taking the politics out of the planning process".
Alarm bells should start to ring when phrases like "taking the politics out of..." drop easily from the lips of a minister. Regardless, the JRPP do nothing of the sort.
These panels, there are five of them, act like hit squads to determine "development proposals with a value between $10 million-$100 million, sub-divisions of more than 250 lots and specialist development proposals, such as eco-tourism, with a value in excess of $5 million".
Each has five members, of which three are appointed by Keneally, the two others nominated by a council. (The three state appointees are permanent, the other two rotating depending on which shire is under review.)
So, how "non-political" are they? As an illustration take the panel that covers the area where I live: the Northern Region from Tweed Heads in the north to Port Macquarie in the south, Liverpool Plains and Moree Plains in the west.
The three state appointees are: Garry West (chair), Pamela Westing and John Griffin. West is no stranger to Macquarie Street. He sat in the NSW Parliament for 20 years as a National Party MP until 1996, running a swag of departments including Tourism, Lands and Forests, Police and Emergency Services.
Westing is a former general manager of Byron Shire. After five years at Byron, her application for a two-year extension to her contract was refused by councillors in 2008. She now runs her own town planning and business management consultancy.
Griffin is a former general manager of the Tweed Shire Council — hardly a political virgin given the scandals over development applications and alleged but never prosecuted links between some councillors and developers in that shire. What is remarkable about Griffin's appointment is that he was rejected as the local member by the council he ran for 15 years, only to pop up again as Keneally's appointee.
Jobs for the boys and girls, while residents living in areas where major developments are proposed will find it even harder to make their voices heard.
No comments:
Post a Comment