Page 4295 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 25 October 2017
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We have seen the proposal that has been talked about through the community panel. As Mr Coe has said, there is some sympathy for the Federal Golf Club. It is not to say that their development is a bad proposal. No-one here is saying that. We are concerned about a holistic approach that looks at the environmental impacts; ensures that we maintain the environmental values; and makes sure that, if this particular proposal gets approved, the next one will ensure that we retain those environmental aspects, the amenity and the vehicular access and address the public transport concerns. It is not about one proposal; it is about looking at the area as a whole.
I will read a bit more from yesterday’s RiotACT article by the former NCDC commissioner. It is illustrative of the issues that are besetting the planning environment at the moment. Mr Powell says:
What is needed is a planning organisation with a core of professional staff … so as to be in a state of constant engagement with the local community, business and trade interests.
The community does not have the ultimate say; there are other interests at stake. Everyone must be consulted, everyone must have their views considered, and a very delicate path must be navigated to ensure that we have all of these considerations. Mr Powell, in this article, believes the directorate has in recent times adopted an inappropriate attitude of blindly adopting zoning changes determined by the LDA, which is likely to carry over to both the new Suburban Land Agency and the City Renewal Authority.
With respect to residents and community groups disagreeing with the government, residents and community groups are entitled to disagree with and to oppose the actions of government. It is called democracy. It was Mr Stanhope, former Chief Minister of the ACT, who made that point in an article referring to the Chief Minister’s refusal to deal with the clubs industry body, ClubsACT. In this article Mr Stanhope said:
Mr Barr has shut the group out after it bankrolled a campaign against Labor at the last election.
Mr Stanhope continued:
Mr Barr’s Trump-like response to Clubs ACT daring to oppose the government over the decision to give the casino poker machines does seem, at best, a tad petulant.
The fact that the Federal Golf Club have had to leave ClubsACT to get extra support from the government, in their view, reeks of a lack of integrity. This is about more than just planning at Red Hill; this is about government integrity at all levels of planning in the ACT.
We have heard this government refusing to meet with anyone that disagrees with them. No-one from the government went to the Master Builders Association’s annual dinner, which was shining a spotlight on mental health for tradesmen. We have heard about their refusing to meet with ClubsACT and the greyhound industry. Mr Stanhope said:
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