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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-04-30 Daily Xml
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MAJOR PROJECTS

The Hon. S.G. WADE (15:15): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Urban Development and Planning a question about major project status.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: On 24 April, the Local Government Association considered and passed a resolution in the following terms:

...that the Local Government Association express concern to the Premier and each Member of the State Parliament that the Major Project/Ministerial Development Plan Amendment provisions of the Development Act 1993 appear to have been used for the fast tracking of random projects. Accordingly the LGA seeks clarification from the State Government regarding the process and procedures for using these provisions which should incorporate consultation with Local Government as the local planning authority.

In commenting on the resolution the mover, the Mayor of Tea Tree Gully, Her Worship Miriam Smith, said:

We want to understand what the State Government's agenda is regarding how they select projects, how they go about it and what their terms of reference are. We've had developers wanting to construct something banging their fists on the table and saying if we don't get this within timeframes they consider fair and reasonable they will take it to the State Government.

The Mayor of Unley, Richard Thorne, was quoted as saying:

The residents are taken out of the loop, we as a council are taken out of the loop and it's very frustrating.

My questions to the minister are:

1. How often have the major project provisions of the Development Act 1993 been used by the responsible minister for each year since the Rann government was elected?

2. Why is the minister failing to consult with local government before he declares a project a major project?

3. What steps will the government take, including establishing appropriate consultation mechanisms, to ensure that applicants do not use the threat of a major project declaration to inappropriately influence local government in the discharge of its planning functions?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business) (15:17): I welcome the question from the honourable member. One of the extraordinary things about the motion that was moved by the Local Government Association was the fact that it was moved by the Mayor of Tea Tree Gully, because, certainly, in my time, there has been no major project—that is, a project under section 46 of the Development Act—in Tea Tree Gully. There may have been way back in the Golden Grove development days, I am not sure, but it would be many years ago. I find it rather extraordinary that the Mayor of Tea Tree Gully should have moved this motion.

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: She is talking from what she says is her experience of it. Given that there are no major projects in that area, I find it rather extraordinary.

The provisions that relate to major developments are set out in section 46 of the Development Act, and they are that if, in the opinion of the minister, a project is of major environmental, economic or social significance, a project can be declared.

The other great misnomer from the Local Government Association is to suggest that it is fast-tracked. We have had this debate in this place before. The processes under section 46 of the Development Act are anything other than fast-tracking, because what is required for a project to go through that process is that, first, the Development Assessment Commission assesses the proposal and determines what level of environmental impact assessment is required under the Development Act. It could be a development report, a public environment report or, at the top level, an environmental impact statement. They are the three levels.

Then, of course, the proponent has to go out and prepare an environmental impact statement, a development report or a public environment report. During that period, when it is completed, there is a public consultation period. A minimum period is established under the act. They must have a public meeting. They then have to respond to all the issues that are raised, not only by members of the public at the public meeting but also by government agencies that are consulted on it. They then have to prepare their report, then it goes to the minister and an assessment report is prepared to go to the Governor to make the final decision, so it is quite a complicated and detailed process. It is there for major projects.

One can look at the major projects since the Rann government has been in office; they are all listed on the Planning SA website and I have them in front of me now. There are about 20 of them—somewhere between 20 and 30 have been declared during the course of the Rann government. If one looks, one sees that there have been a number of marina proposals, and the reason they are under major project status is so an environmental impact statement could be made. We had one recently, for example, at Mannum. Also, the Bradken foundry was another one of them, and tomorrow the Olympic Dam environmental impact statement, which is the largest in this state and which has taken several years to prepare, will be released.

These are the sorts of projects that generally come under the major development process, but of course there are some other projects which have also been declared, for example, the lights at Football Park, because we once had a royal commission in relation to that. That was done, incidentally, in consultation with the local council, because in many of these projects they would not have the capacity to do it. Clearly, the reason that section is there in the Development Act is that there will be occasions when, because of their environmental, economic or social significance, developments will either fall outside the capacity of local government to assess them or in some cases not comply with development plans. So, to enable such developments to be considered one has section 46 of the Development Act to deal with such matters.

Perhaps the Mayor of Tea Tree Gully and other members of the Local Government Association are getting confused with section 49 of the Development Act, which relates to Crown developments, that is, those which are sponsored by the government and which include such things as major school buildings and the like and major government development. Possibly they are getting confused with that. As I said, the total number last year I think amounted to the whole number of two major projects declared within this state.

What is the purpose of discussing the matter with local government? I note that the Hon Mark Parnell has a bill to that effect on the Notice Paper, but what is the purpose of discussing these cases? The other big example was the desalination plant. What is the purpose in such matters of going to local government and saying, 'Will you let us make this a major development?' Quite clearly, projects of that nature are outside that scope.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Clearly, members opposite are not interested in the answer. Perhaps I can summarise and just advise them to go and read the Development Act; it is all there.

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