HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Member Index
House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-09-28 Daily Xml
Contents
Pdf Xml

FISHERMAN'S BAY SUBDIVISION

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (11:03): I move:

That this house instruct the Environment, Resources and Development Committee to fully investigate and report on the proposed Fisherman's Bay subdivision and make recommendations to the parliament to ensure a quick resolution to this long-term problem.

The issue of freeholding shacks at Fisherman's Bay has been ongoing ever since the Liberal government allowed freeholding of leases in the mid-1990s. There are approximately 380 shacks and shack sites at Fisherman's Bay and the land is owned by the Fisherman's Bay Management Pty Ltd, a group of shack owners who bought the land from a local farmer way back in the early 1970s. It was a public transaction back then. An invitation was extended to anybody who wanted to partake in that to be part of it. It was a public purchase from a farmer. They did it to ensure the future of this lovely shack and beach area, a very family friendly holiday destination.

On 16 February 2000, the land division and development approval was granted for the creation of 405 additional allotments, the majority of which were allotments to reflect the existing licence to occupy within the township. That application has been subject to a number of extensions. A wastewater treatment plant, to be sited on the balance of the land outside the township zone boundary, has been granted full development approval. There has been very much protracted dispute between the District Council of Barunga West and Fisherman's Bay Management Pty Ltd (FBM) regarding the subdivision of the land comprising the development.

The settlement of Fisherman's Bay exists and has existed for some 80 years. It would be naive to suggest that Fisherman's Bay will not continue to exist for an indefinite period. The town definitely needs proper provision for the disposal of waste. The town definitely needs replacement of deteriorating housing stock. The division of land on which the town sits, so as to create a title for each shack dwelling site, will not necessarily create a risk of inundation. Whatever the risk, it exists now and will continue to exist whether or not there is a land division.

An application for development approval of the division of the land on which the existing township of Fisherman's Bay sits was lodged on 29 July 2010, including the offer of a bank guarantee of $1.625 million to be applied by the authorities toward the planning and construction of the appropriate infrastructure within the settlement and to absorb any impact from coastal processes and sea level rise. The previous manager of Environmental Services, Mark Marziale, points out, in a letter to the minister, that FBM's proposed contribution to infrastructure of $1.625 million was better than 50 per cent of council's annual revenue.

A specialist coastal process engineer, Dr Dean Patterson, provided recommendations to FBM that an engineering solution involving sand levee works would protect the township from inundation. As there is insufficient room for such a levee bank to be wholly constructed on FBM's land, the FBM has now had to enter into further discussion with state government regarding the use of the crown land, and council in relation to the crown land under the care and control of council. Upon investigation of the levee proposal, Coast Protection Board staff noted that the construction of a levee was likely to interfere with native vegetation in the vicinity. So, here we go again.

The EPA and DAC have been involved in the situation and this has resulted in further delays regarding the proposed subdivision. Now native vegetation issues are also a factor in the matter. At FBM's own expense, they engaged a consultant accredited by the Native Vegetation Council for a formal assessment for the purposes of a formal application for consent to clear native vegetation. FBM has now received clearance consent from the Native Vegetation Council—now what? The matter is now resting with the minister and his determination on whether the Development Assessment Commission or the development assessment panel is the appropriate authority to assess both the application for land subdivision in Fisherman's Bay and construction of a levee bank.

An exceptionally strong response to the current pre-sales of proposed allotments in the town has resulted in over 73 per cent of licensees entering into pre-sales contracts with FBM. These ongoing delays are causing angst for the licensees. Their lives and finances are put on hold while they patiently wait for the situation to be finalised. Many are now of the belief that their individual freehold titles will never happen.

I understand the dispute has caused rifts within the council, and accusations of personal vendettas have arisen, when the situation could have been straightforward and this drawn-out dispute prevented and all dealt with many years ago. Another impact of this subdivision taking so long is that many planning and development rules have changed, so particular aspects of the matter have to be continually revisited. The longer it goes, the more red tape we seem to encounter. Fisherman's Bay Management Pty Ltd's development package will provide that:

the land division will fully fund a waste treatment plant employing modern vacuum technology at a cost in excess of $6 million—a state-of-the-art facility. The waste treatment plant has received full development approval. There will be sewerage service to council public toilets and a number of freehold dwellings outside FBM's land;

the land division will fully fund an engineered stormwater management plan, including the sealing of roads within the town, out of the guaranteed amount of $1.625 million;

the land division will fund 83 per cent of the cost of construction of a levee to protect the town from the threat of inundation, based on current costings, out of the guaranteed $1.625 million. This is an engineered solution to the threat of inundation—the levee. There will be levee protection of council foreshore public toilets, playground, boat ramp and car park, together with freehold dwellings outside FBM's land;

the land division project has already provided significant funds for professional fees for the design and engineering of the waste treatment plant, stormwater management plan and the levee; and

the land division will provide the residents of the town with the opportunity to purchase their own title, which in turn will provide the residents of the town with the ability to offer their titles as security for a finance for upgrading or renewing building stock within the tow

I believe that the residents of Fisherman's Bay deserve a prompt resolution to this matter which has now taken well over a year and even in the final stages still appears to be far from resolved—remembering approvals were originally granted in February 2000.

Why am I raising this issue here today? It is because I was a member of a government that made it possible for shack owners all over South Australia to own and upgrade their own shacks, and to make greater assets from them—be encouraged to do it, especially sewerage—and to generally improve the visual and physical amenity of these communities.

I have been involved in several successful arrangements on the River Murray where it was imperative that we fix up the sewerage, and they were all finalised at least five years ago. I am aware of the situation at Fisherman's Bay and I personally know many of the residents—friends and family. Even though this freeholding exercise was complicated, it should have been all wrapped up at least two or three years ago.

I am aware of the frustrations and the accusations made by frustrated residents and others. Leadership has certainly been questioned in this matter, but mayor Dolling has been excluded from all negotiations because his sister is the wife of a director of Fisherman's Bay Management Ltd. I do not believe this is conflict enough to exclude him from all discussions and negotiations—in fact, to lead the council—but it has and this has added to the problem.

The council officers need to be questioned as to some of the decisions that have been made, and the subsequent delays. I recognise the efforts of the previous members: Rob Kerin; particularly, the Hon. Rob Roberts MLC; now, more particularly, the Hon. John Dawkins; and the current member, Mr Brock. They have all had a go at this and they all share my frustration as to why this is all taking so long, and the chronic bureaucratic roundabout that it has been on. I note that yesterday—in hearsay I heard in the corridor—apparently there has been some movement on the minister's desk. If this motion does nothing else other than that, it has been worth it.

I urge the house to support this motion to use this committee of the parliament to have a good look at this. It would be a great result for this to first pass the parliament and then for the committee to be told by a letter from the minister that the matter has been resolved, it is all fixed and we do not even need to hear it. That would be the best possible news. In the interim, I look forward to the support of the house to use one of the committees of the house purely to call some people in and to ask a few questions. I urge the support of the house.

The SPEAKER: Member for Schubert, just for clarification, where is Fisherman's Bay—I may have missed it in your speech, but which Fisherman's Bay are we talking about, because I am sure there are a number of Fisherman's Bays around the place?

Mr VENNING: It is the one just north of Port Broughton, Madam Speaker.

The SPEAKER: That one; thank you, that's what I thought.

Mr BROCK (Frome) (11:13): I thank the member for Schubert for having some concern. When I got into parliament at the 2009 by-election I was only in the system for about six weeks when I got a phone call regarding the Fisherman's Bay management looking for funds to put a water treatment plant and a sewer system in there.

This whole project has become a nightmare, quite frankly. It has been going on for over 10 years. I am very surprised and disappointed that the previous member, and members, have not rectified this issue well and truly prior to this. I have come into this house and I have tried to get this through the system.

The development application from Fisherman's Bay management was sent in, and I have had discussions with the previous planning minister, the Hon. Paul Holloway. I have also enlisted the support of the Hon. John Darley and the Hon. John Dawkins from the other house, because I do not have the expertise and experience to deal with these things so I have enlisted their help and they have been invaluable to me.

Before he relinquished his position the previous minister indicated to me that he had signed it off and sent it back to the District Council of Barunga West (under the Development Assessment Panel) to be dealt with locally. With the new minister coming in, that letter was not sent out and it has now been backwards and forwards with the minister. In the interim period, the Hon. John Dawkins, the Hon. John Darley and I have had meetings with the Fisherman's Bay management, the licence group up there and members of Planning SA.

I want to clarify one issue raised by the member for Schubert. He indicated that mayor Dolling should not have a conflict of interest. Mayor Dolling elected to declare a vested interest in this application. Whether he has a financial return or not, he has elected to exclude himself from this, and that is the mayor's prerogative. We must also clear up that issue.

The strange thing about this application is that it is on one title of land and, as the member for Schubert indicated, over a period of time people were allowed to have little allotments in there. These people want those allotments to be freehold. One application was put in 10 years ago and on 29 October 2010, as the member has indicated, an additional application was put in. So, we have had two applications for development.

The first application has now expired because they did not ask for an extension, and the minister is making a deliberation on the second application as to whether the minister should give them permission under the Planning Act to freehold that land. I have had meetings with the department, and even yesterday I was told that it is just about on the minister's desk now for signing off. I would hope that the minister will sign that off in the next couple of days and either send it back to the District Council of Barunga West for them to deal with locally or send it through to the DAC.

The other issue is that these shacks, properties or residences in Fisherman's Bay are owned by the owners, but the land is not. At the moment, people do not have any security to go forward and build a new facility there or do any extensions. There are a lot of other concerns about this application that are away from the planning issues. As the member for Schubert has already said, it was indicated in the application that they were going to put about $1.6 million towards infrastructure.

The roads within the Fisherman's Bay management application area just north of Port Broughton are very low-lying. It is well and truly below the 3.4 AHD for the flood level. They also have to build a retaining wall, which would be far in excess of the $1.6 million—it has to be made out of rocks. There are a lot of unusual circumstances or issues confronting this application and I believe that the minister and the planning department are trying to understand where this should go. People with expertise, like the Hon. John Darley and the Hon. John Dawkins from the other place, have been invaluable, as I said earlier, and even they are at a loss to understand how we can get this through.

I have not been able to verify if 73 per cent of contracts have been signed. In regard to the price of the freeholding of the blocks, when they do go through, Fisherman's Bay management went out and elected to use two licensed valuers. In one location, the valuation varied from $160,000 to $300,000. There is a lot of variance, and the Fisherman's Bay licensed shack owners themselves had no recourse to be able to get their own independent valuation on any of these blocks. So, there are lots of issues here.

I would like the minister to make the decision, send it back to the District Council of Barunga West for them to make the decision locally through their Development Assessment Panel, or refer it to the Development Assessment Commission. As the member for Schubert has indicated, this has been going on for many, many years and we need to get it fixed up. I certainly do not take on board the member's statement saying that there has been any shonky work by members or staff of the District Council of Barunga West. I would like to see this one way or the other go back to the District Council of Barunga West for it to deliberate, or to refer it to the Development Assessment Commission.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Sibbons.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT