Major projects legislation will play no role in rezoning land for prison
By Sharon Webb
THE STATE Government has asserted that proposed major projects legislation will play no role in rezoning land for the Northern Regional Prison proposed for Westbury. Early in March the State Government announced its intention to legislate to provide for the independent assessment of major projects. The Premier, Mr Gutwein, defined major projects as ‘development proposals of significant scale, impact or complexity, including those that cross municipalities or require assessment under multiple acts of Parliament’. He maintained that the process ‘will provide confidence to the community that development proposals will undergo rigorous assessment by independent experts, with opportunities for public input’. Under the process, development proposals can be referred for consideration to be a major project by the proponent, the relevant council or the Minister for Planning. The Minister’s role in the process ends once a proposal has been declared a major project.
Major project proposals will be assessed by an independent expert panel convened by the Tasmanian Planning Commission. That panel will also coordinate other related permit approvals processes. Tasmanian groups such as Westbury Region Against the Prison, people opposed to a Mt Wellington cable car and to the East Coast’s Cambria project are concerned that major projects legislation will fast-track projects supported by government and that normal approval processes will be abandoned. For the prison, the normal process would be for the State Government to apply to the Meander Valley Council to rezone the Birralee Road land. According to former acting council GM Jonathan Harmey, the prison project will be advertised and the public can make submissions for and against it.
The final decision will be made by the Tasmanian Planning Commission. Commenting on the process, Ms Archer played down the role of Meander Valley Council, saying, ‘The council simply determines whether to initiate the amendment for consideration’. But she also maintained, ‘The major projects legislation will not, and cannot, be used to determine the prison rezoning. ‘A rezoning is not a “project”. It is a planning scheme amendment, and there is already a well-established, independent statutory process for assessing planning scheme amendments. ‘The new major projects assessment process is for the assessment of projects that are significant in terms of their impacts, complexity and importance.’ President of WRAP, Linda Poulton, voiced concerns about the possibility of the government turning to the major projects act if the current planning procedures ‘do not go its way on the prison’.
