Question Time

30-YEAR PLAN FOR GREATER ADELAIDE

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:51): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Urban Development and Planning a question about the 30-Year Plan for Greater Adelaide.

Leave granted.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Mr President, I ask for your protection.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The honourable members of the government will come to order.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I was at a function in Munno Para Downs a couple of weeks ago and met some people who live on Andrews Road in Munno Para Downs. They raised some concerns with me about land they owned which appeared in the Plan for Greater Adelaide as being a green zone. They had a copy of a map but, unfortunately, they were not able to give it to me. I have since been able to look at the Plan for Greater Adelaide and at the map on page 175 (Map F6 Barossa Directions) and the particular area is shaded a very pale green, next to an existing green belt.

The particular owners of the land contacted Planning SA and asked what the status of the land was and Planning SA informed them that this was now a green belt. You can imagine their dismay when they had not been consulted at all by the government in relation to this change of land use to a green belt. You can also understand their reaction when they received, at about that same time, a letter from a developer asking to contact them about the said piece of land, which now, under this plan, is a green belt. I will read from an email I received from one of these people:

I spoke to you yesterday at the function...where you wanted me to fax the copy of the letter I, along with others, received. I will do that, however the letter is basically asking us to ring (the developers). Upon ringing them, that is when I found they wanted us to sign contracts for $80,000 an acre to push for residential, and if it goes through, then whatever they can sell the land for, after the $80K is deducted to be split between us!

My questions are:

1. Will the minister explain how this land appears in the new Greater Adelaide plan as a green belt with no consultation with the landowners?

2. Will he explain how a developer now is offering $80,000 an acre for land that, in his plan, is zoned as a green belt?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business) (14:53): In relation to the last matter, I have no idea at all; that is up to the developer. It has nothing to do with me. In relation to the green belt, this government made a decision some time ago as, indeed, I think did the former government. When we came to office we committed ourselves to a green belt between the Gawler and Munno Para boundaries. We promised then, and we have maintained the promise, that we would keep a green belt between Munno Para—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: There is already an existing green belt.

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Yes, that is right, and we are going to keep it. We are not expanding it. We are going to keep it as a green belt. There were proposals where a number of people were advocating that this government should extend the area and it should start to close the gap between Gawler and the existing outskirts of the Munno Para region.

We have simply committed to keeping that green belt. All that means is that the current zoning, whatever it is in that region, will remain in place. There was some slight expansion of that area in 2007, when adjustments were made to the boundaries. There was some regularising of that area south of Gawler.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: The member for Light's family home.

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: That is a disgraceful suggestion. In fact, it has been addressed before.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: That is just not the case. We have dealt with that issue before. What I will say about the member for Light (Tony Piccolo) is that he has been absolutely assiduous in campaigning to keep the green belt between Gawler and the existing area, and the government has delivered on that because the member for Light has been so assiduous in pressing the case.

That is why we are maintaining the status quo. We are preserving the green belt between the existing extent of metropolitan Adelaide where it goes to, I think, the suburb of Munno Para, certainly just past the Munno Para Shopping Centre. That is the current extent. We will maintain the green belt between that area and Gawler so that Gawler will maintain its town and country reputation. That is something that the people of Gawler—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: We have been talking to them. The member for Light has been talking to them. The member for Light is a former mayor of the area. There is no local member of parliament in the other place who is more diligent in representing the interests of his electors than the member for Light. He is a former mayor for the district and he has been absolutely—

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: I hope he enjoys his last 5½ months.

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: The member for Light has been absolutely assiduous in protecting his constituents and preserving the green belt. That is all we have done. If somebody else wants to buy that green belt land, that is entirely up to them and there is no reason why—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: You're expanding and changing it without consultation.

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: There is no expansion of the green belt.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Apart from the changes that were made in the 2007 urban growth boundary and subsequent changes, there has not been a change. I understand that there have been some proposals within that green belt to look at the appropriate density. There is a size of block to protect the green belt. In fact, one of the issues that is often raised is that, if you have blocks of five or 10 hectares, it may actually be less of a green belt than if you have them of a somewhat smaller rural living area where people are more likely to grow trees on their block and therefore make it more of a green belt.

I know that those matters have been a constant issue. I am always being lobbied by people who live in that area around Kudla to rezone that area to allow a higher density but still a rural living density which would be consistent with a green belt. The council has been looking at those issues, as I understand it, and of course it is essentially up to it to initiate them. The point is that, whatever density or whatever minimum allotment size is decided, it is the government's view that it should remain as a green belt—in other words, that those holdings in that area would be sufficient to ensure that it maintains a rural character.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: All I can say is what has happened in relation to the boundary changes there. There were areas—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Apart from the 2007 urban boundary adjustments, there has been no change to the urban growth boundary in that region.