Planning and Infrastructure Policy Summary
Community needs not developer greed
Massive donations by big real estate developers to both Labor and the Coalition have resulted in a planning system that is heavily biased against the community. Obtaining approval for developments that are over-sized, unsustainable and inappropriate has been made ever easier, while the ability of the community to resist such developments has been diminished.
The Carr/Iemma government has massively weakened the planning laws. Even where local Councils support the community against inappropriate development, developers can get the Minister to use his powers to call-in the development and bypass existing environmental protections, the local council and the community entirely.
Labor, with Coalition support, has allowed developers to choose their own private consultants to decide whether their buildings meet the necessary standards, resulting in sub-standard developments being approved.
Greens MPs have opposed Labor’s changes to the planning laws and have campaigned against numerous inappropriate developments in rural and urban areas and on the coast.
The Greens believe that the urban and regional built environments will continue to be degraded unless there is a complete overhaul of the current laws, codes and practices. This will not be possible until there is a complete ban on developer donations to political parties. The public interest must become the dominant consideration in all planning and development decisions.
The Greens are working for:
- ecologically sustainable development to be the guiding principle that underpins the planning process;
- a ban on developer donations to political parties;
- reform of the Land and Environment Court to protect the rights of the community;
- restricting the Planning Minister’s ability to ‘call in’ and approve developments;
- placing the onus of proof on the developer to establish that the development does not damage local amenity, heritage, environment, transport and infrastructure facilities;
- an end to private certification of buildings;
- mandating the adaptive re-use of heritage buildings, not just keeping façades;
- greater restrictions on coastal developments; and
- greenhouse gas implications to be considered in any proposed development or rezoning.
