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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-10-14 Daily Xml
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WILLUNGA BASIN PROTECTION BILL

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 18 February 2009. Page 1324.)

The Hon. M. PARNELL (17:47): The Greens will support this legislation, not because it is necessarily the best model to achieve the ends desired but because we want to make sure that the government takes very seriously the desire in the community to make sure that key agricultural and tourist areas are protected from inappropriate development, in particular, inappropriate urban development. Like the Hon. Rob Brokenshire, I have attended a great many meetings focused around the government's 30-year plan and what is seen in the government's plan as the inevitable and desirable urban sprawl of Adelaide out into the rural hinterland. That is bad public policy and we should do what we can in this place to ensure that it does not happen.

The Willunga Basin is particularly important for a range of primary and tourism industries, and that means that it is a special case deserving of special protection. That is not to say that it is the only place that deserves this extra level of protection, but it is the place before us now. The bill proposes the establishment of a Willunga Basin protection committee that is tasked with the job of preparing a Willunga Basin plan. That plan will be a reasonably high level statutory document, will be tabled in both houses of parliament and will be tabled as well, I understand, before the Environment, Resources and Development Committee.

The question for us is whether our existing land use planning regime is adequate to protect all the values that need protecting in the Willunga Basin and elsewhere. The answer clearly is that the current system is lacking. We know that, when it comes to rezoning exercises, the system is a poor one. We know that residents have very few rights to engage in public participation in relation to land use planning changes.

Members may have attended on many occasions, as I have, the Development Policy Advisory Committee, and they would have seen what a flawed process it is. We get five minutes to put our case. There is no-one to ask questions of and no-one from the planning department to address any concerns. It is simply a panel that sits mute at the front whilst a line-up of people tell them what is wrong with the planning system. At the end of the day, when the Development Policy Advisory Committee reports to the minister, it is a secret report and we do not know how seriously our submissions were taken or whether or not we were listened to. That system is a faulty one.

We know that members of the public have no right to legally challenge a rezoning exercise. We have seen the residents of Cheltenham give it a go in the Supreme Court. The result, perhaps not unexpectedly, was that the bar was too high. They raised a great many important public interest issues, but they could not get there, mainly as a result of the inherent biases in the system that work against citizens being able to challenge these types of decisions. Until we get the mainstream planning system right and get decent community engagement in the planning policy arena, such as through development plan amendments, and until we get a decent opportunity for people to comment on and go to the umpire on individual development applications, we need some emergency measures to ensure that our key assets—agricultural, horticultural, viticultural and tourism assets—are protected, and the bill before us is one method of doing that, so the Greens will support the Willunga Basin Protection Bill.

The Hon. DAVID WINDERLICH (17:52): I also support this bill and commend it as an innovative attempt to patch over some flaws in our system that have been outlined by the Hon. Mark Parnell. The question to ask ourselves is whether this is a special area. The Hon. Robert Brokenshire has made the case and we already know that this is a special area for reasons of its biodiversity, its natural beauty, its heritage, its agricultural value, its tourism potential and its important role as part of our water catchments. Is it under threat? Most certainly—from urban sprawl and from the pressure to increase population and from the move from larger to smaller households and therefore more numerous households. Can we have confidence that it will be protected by the current planning system? No. Again, as outlined by the Hon. Mark Parnell, our planning system is weighted in favour of developers and fairly relentless and insensitive development. So, we cannot have any confidence that our current planning system will protect this special area.

The bill is not a leap into the dark. It is based on similar initiatives in the Swan Valley in Western Australia and the Napa and Sonoma valleys in California. I am attracted to the idea of the consultative committee, which will work out the finer details of the Willunga Basin plan. I think that is a more democratic approach to planning than we currently see in South Australia.

All in all, I think it is an excellent initiative that is well worth being supported by this chamber. I know that it has extensive support in the community from that area—I have been receiving numerous emails. It has been described as one small emergency measure in the face of a failed planning system that can help protect a very important area.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. I.K. Hunter.

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