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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2007-11-14 Daily Xml
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CHELTENHAM PARK RACECOURSE

The Hon. M. PARNELL (15:12): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Urban Development and Planning a question about the Cheltenham Racecourse.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M. PARNELL: Last night I was pleased to attend a meeting of residents at the Woodville Town Hall in the company of the Hon. David Ridgway. The main item on the agenda of that meeting was a discussion on the future of the Cheltenham Racecourse. One of the things that I was able to do at the meeting was explain the planning system to residents. When I explained the Development Policy Advisory Committee and submissions process, the question was quite reasonably asked: how do we know what advice the Development Policy Advisory Committee will give the minister? My experience with that committee is that it is generally a secret process. My question of the minister is: will he commit to publishing the advice that he receives from the Development Policy Advisory Committee as a result of written submissions and the verbal presentations, of which there will be many, that will be made at the public meeting early next year?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Police, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning) (15:14): I do not propose to give some blanket commitment that I will release DPAC advice and that has been the practice ever since the Development Act has been there.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Well, where was DPAC first established? Who was in government and set up all of these—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Well, we are open and transparent, far more so than the previous government, I have to say. Indeed, what we find is that, when we do give freedom of information advice, like that given to the Hon. Michelle Lensink the other day, they do not even bother to read it because if they did—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Did you read part of the letter that the Premier sent to Bob Such back in August? The answer to your question yesterday was quite clearly in there—that the development proposal from the University of Adelaide had long since been discontinued following government advice. Even when we do have a mechanism, it appears that opposition members do not avail themselves of it.

The DPAC (Development Policy Advisory Committee) is there to give advice to the government without fear or favour. If that is going to be totally open then it may well reduce the value of that advice to government, if there is some standing commitment to always make that advice available. I am not going to make a general commitment to do that. In relation to the Cheltenham Racecourse, this government has been very open and transparent about its plans for that area. There has been plenty of—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: We have a federal election, and there are a few people out there in the Liberal Party—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: There was not even a federal Labor candidate there.

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Unlike the Liberal Party, our federal candidates know the difference between state and federal issues; unlike them, they know the difference. In recent days we have seen members opposite out campaigning. We have the federal Liberal Party talking about being tough on law on order. The federal government has introduced a whole range of measures but it is so desperate and it has so little with which to sell itself after 11½ or 12 years in government that all it can do is try to get some traction on state issues; notwithstanding the fact that, for every dollar the states have received in GST, the federal government has received $5.

Over the past five years, for every dollar the state has had in GST, the commonwealth has received $5. The government is rolling in money, and that is why we have the Prime Minister continuing to do it; notwithstanding the fact that the states have had to spend most of their money on providing services. The states get one-fifth of the revenue but they have to meet all the costs of infrastructure and so on. Is it any wonder that the current federal Liberal government is in so much trouble and its candidates are trying to get involved in issues like Cheltenham Racecourse? The fact is that the state's view on this has been well known over a long period of time. We now have a consultation process that is under way.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: That is right; that is exactly what it means. That is exactly why they had the meeting, because the development plan amendment is out there for people to consider. If people want to go along to a meeting that is there for political purposes and listen to what the honourable—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: If people are trying to do that and go along to these public meetings to try to play politics, that is okay; that is all part of the process, and that is fine. However, at the end of the day, this government will consider it, like it does with all issues like this, on its merits. A lot of work has been put into the development plans for Cheltenham Racecourse and it has now been released for public consultation.

The council will have its view. The Charles Sturt council has written to me and I will be happy to meet with its members. At the appropriate time (which I think is 11 January), the development plan will be considered and there is plenty of time for everyone to have their say. Today is 14 November and it is nearly two months until January, so people do have time to look at it. There have already been meetings on it, as the question indicated, so there is plenty of time for people to have their say on it. That is what this government believes, and that is what we will do. We will consider it all on its merits.

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