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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-08-26 Daily Xml
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Badcoe Electorate

Ms STINSON (Badcoe) (15:32): I rise on a matter of acute concern to the people I represent in the suburb of Glandore. A person's home is their castle, and for the majority of us it is our biggest asset and debt and something in which we invest not just money but our heart and our soul. Homes are a place for making memories, making families and, accumulated together, they make communities.

In a place like Glandore there are many castles. Within the declared character area there are stunning examples of restored Art Deco and postwar castles, each one their own lovely domain, adored by their owners and these days highly desired by prospective owners too. As a member of the South Australian branch of the Art Deco and Modernism Society, I have a personal regard for the preservation of art deco architecture. I know the close-knit neighbourhood well and the need to preserve its beautiful streets and streetscapes.

Therefore, I found it nothing short of horrific to discover that the government has decided to degrade the character-declared neighbourhood and have it overshadowed by eight-storey developments on Anzac Highway. The only thing more offensive than this decision is that it directly breaks the promise given to the Glandore community by this government to ensure a three-storey limit across this stretch of Anzac Highway at Glandore. To add salt to the wound, this decision was made in secret by misusing, or at least overreaching, the use of a ministerial power and despite an 18-month to two-year public consultation period precisely about zoning in metro areas, including Glandore.

Now for a little local history, which I hope might enlighten those opposite, particularly the Minister for Planning. About seven years ago, the Glandore community campaigned to have the local council declare a character zone, with greater protections for the mainly Art Deco-era housing for which the suburb is renowned. That campaign was successful, and it saw the declaration of a character zone and restrictions on blocks bordering the zone to ensure tall buildings could not overshadow the lower protected homes.

In 2017, I was part of the community campaign to correct a mistake by the drafters that failed to account for a hammerhead block that wraps around behind 192 Anzac Highway, which saw that site unintentionally exempt from the height limits that applied to most of the properties on that stretch of Anzac Highway. A developer wished to construct an eight-storey development at 192 Anzac Highway, which would have been inconsistent with a three-storey limit that applied to other properties bordering the character zone. That development so far has not proceeded.

Amid community uproar, in 2018 the City of West Torrens and I asked former Minister Knoll to correct the error with the development plan amendment via a statement of intent. The former minister acknowledged the error and approved the SOI process on 27 September 2018. He indicated at that time that the new Planning and Design Code would soon eclipse the DPA process and that the correction could be made through the new code, and that promise was communicated to our community.

Given this assurance, our community did not lobby further, as we had already secured a result—or so we thought. When the new code was released in March, this promise was fulfilled, right there in black and white. The residents of Glandore were grateful that the error had been corrected and the area preserved as it was always intended to be. So it was a shock and outrageous to my community that the minister has now secretly used an executive power designed to assist in remedying trifling errors to comprehensively renege on the government's promise to the people of Glandore. This is an abuse of the powers bestowed under section 76 of the act and represents an aggressive overreach.

Rubbing salt into the wound, the decision was not announced publicly but published in the little red Gazette. It is profoundly undemocratic, not to mention enormously disrespectful, for the government to use this section to ram through such consequential changes by stealth. And what is worse is that an additional seven blocks have been wrapped into this eight-storey limit rather than just the one that was complained about. How those particular blocks were chosen no-one knows. Given this decision, Glandore residents are very worried that the interests of developers are being put above their own by this government.

I held a community meeting upon discovering this shocking breach of trust by the government, and affected residents packed out a meeting room at the Glandore Community Centre. A petition is now underway, and the minister would know I have also written to her outlining these local concerns. I have also received scores of letters and emails. I welcome the opportunity to speak with the minister because with each day that passes the Glandore community is at risk of a development application being lodged for up to eight storeys, at which time there will be little they can be done to stop that from being approved. This government will be responsible for that.

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