Greens Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region Robin Chapple MLC has today condemned the decision by Minister for Planning Hon John Day MLA not to answer a Parliamentary Question without Notice about a Broome Planning matter even though it was clear that a delay would be against the interests of the Broome public.
Mr Chapple’s question pertains to the Broome Local Planning Strategy and Local Planning Scheme 6, both of which are open for public comment until this Friday 20th September.
“A delay in answering the questions is tantamount to a refusal to answer as, by the time we receive the answers, the deadline for submissions will be well and truly over.
“A more suspicious mind might conclude that this is exactly what the Minister was after.
Mr Chapple’s questions come as a result of requests from constituents critical of the Shire of Broome’s community engagement process.
“There are many Broome residents unhappy about aspects of the draft strategy, which cites the proposed Browse LNG precinct and Browse Worker’s Accommodation Village in the vicinity of James Price Point as one of the main factors driving the plan.
“This is clearly not going to happen, even though the Premier is stubbornly refusing to accept the decision of Woodside and its Joint Venture partners to go with a Floating LNG processing plant.
“At the very least, it is clear that the Shire must re-visit a number of assumptions in the strategy before moving to incorporate them in the Scheme,” Mr Chapple said.
For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255
See Attachment: Question Without Notice
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
QUESTION WITHOUT NOTICE
(Of which some notice has been given)
Wednesday, 11 September 2013
Hon Robin Chapple to the Minister for Mental Health representing the Minister for Planning.
With regard to the rules governing the development of Local Planning Strategies and Local Planning Schemes, I ask:
1. Is it permitted for a Local Planning Scheme to be based on a draft Local Planning Strategy that is currently out for public comment?
2. Does the Minister agree that a Local Planning Strategy that is advertised for public comment could be changed as a result of these comments, Shire Councillors' comments and a recommendation of the WA Planning Commission prior to gazettal?
3. If yes to (2), how can a Local Planning Scheme be advertised when its basis is in draft form?
4. If no to (2), why not?
I thank the Hon. Member for some notice of this question.
(1) - (4) I thank the Hon. Member for some notice of this Question. It is not possible to provide the information in the time available and I request that the Member place the question on notice.
Premier Admits Plan to Force Country Shire Amalgamations
8 August 2013
Greens WA spokesperson on Local Government, Robin Chapple MLC, today said that the Premier’s push for metropolitan council amalgamation now appears ‘dead in the water’.
“I have been very critical of this government’s approach to council amalgamation in the past, describing it as a ‘fiasco’.
“However, even I was not expecting such a public unravelling of the process, as I witnessed yesterday at the 2013 WA Local Government Association (WALGA) conference.
“Here we have heard the WALGA president, Mr Troy Pickard, reveal that the Premier has told him bluntly that country shires will be forced to amalgamate, in the face of the bulldozer which he has let loose, in the form of the new Minister for Local Government.
“What a blatant desecration of the democratic process we are witnessing over this issue!
“How will the Nationals react to what looks on the surface to be a betrayal of the Premier’s promise to leave the bush alone, in return for Parliamentary support from Mr Grylls and his followers?
“The Greens have always maintained that the local grassroots communities should be the drivers of policy in relation to council amalgamation.
“Yet what has been foreshadowed by the Premier in a blatant display of effrontery has been a move to strike out the Dadour amendment, which was established by the WA Liberals’ own Sir Charles Court government – a move which will effectively muzzle the voice of the people.
“The government made great play of its concern for community input when it conducted the Robson Review - I fear this is yet another example of how this government pays lip service to consultation, but in reality just does as it pleases”, Mr Chapple concluded.
Greens WA spokesperson on Local Government, Robin Chapple MLC, today joined Member for South Metropolitan, Lynn MacLaren MLC in expressing concern over the shambolic process surrounding the leaking of the Barnett government’s push for metropolitan council amalgamation.
“In recent days, the fiasco that is this government’s approach to council amalgamation has been laid bare for all to see.
“The Greens have always maintained that the local grassroots communities should be the drivers of policy in relation to council amalgamation.
“Yet what has been dished up under successive local government ministers in the Barnett/Grylls government has been a series of take-it-or-leave-it edicts”, said Mr Chapple.
“There is very little excitement for the proposal among communities in the South Metropolitan Region, with some strongly opposed,” said Lynn MacLaren.
“I think people are coming around to thinking that some boundaries could be changed to good effect, especially if they are based on strategic activity centres. But the Councils’ own proposals have been mostly dismissed.
Mr Chapple continued, “Our position is that local government is the bedrock of our democracy – it is the first point of contact for people in terms of representation, and as such it plays a huge role in our society.
“Both major parties have consistently failed to respect this in their dealings with councils – this current amalgamation mess being the most recent example.
“Some communities will undoubtedly benefit from amalgamation, but it must be up to them to drive the agenda.
“The government made great play of its concern for community input when it conducted the Robson Review - I fear this is yet another example of how this government pays lip service to consultation, but in reality just does as it pleases.
We will continue to consult with all affected communities”, Mr Chapple concluded.
For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255; or Lynn MacLaren on0403 721 951 or 9430 7233.
Port Hedland Budget Crisis as Royalties for Regions Chickens Come Home to Roost
20 June 2013
Greens WA member for the Mining and Pastoral Region, Robin Chapple MLC, today called on the state government to start fixing up the mess left behind by its royalties-for-regions (R4R) blunders.
“Reports have surfaced of the massive budget shortfall in the Town of Port Hedland’s books. Being a former Port Hedland councillor, I know just what anguish the hard-working staff and councillors are going through at the moment.
“$3 million is a big deficit, and the most appalling aspect of it is, just how predictable it was - and I fear Port Hedland will not be the only council to suffer a similar fate.
“I have repeatedly warned about the inherent dangers in the way R4R was structured and administered. Anybody can be wise after the event – but I moved amendments to the Bill in 2009 – which would have ensured that R4R spending was targeted – to enhance basic living needs including health, housing and education services.
“Instead, Premier Barnett’s government, led by the nose like some Royal Show exhibit by Mr Grylls’ Nationals, has splashed cash into a raft of vanity projects – many of which carried with them the inevitable maintenance burden which we now see is dragging down local governments like Port Hedland.
“Commonsense must now prevail - Mr Barnett and his Treasurer well know that the continuation of current R4R arrangements is a Sword of Damocles hanging over the state’s fiscal credibility for the next four years.
“Now is the time for the Premier to use his electoral advantage over the Nationals and patch up the gaping cracks in R4R administration, which are now coming so clearly into public view”, Mr Chapple concluded.
WA Greens spokesperson on Local Government and member for the Mining and Pastoral Region, Robin Chapple MLC, today urged widespread support for the referendum on constitutional recognition of Local Government.
“I call on all sections of the community to get behind this long overdue reform, which will streamline our system by cutting out the middleman. Local governments throughout my electorate, and indeed across the state, have consistently lobbied me for support in moving to upgrade recognition of this most important tier of government.
“It’s hard to overstate the importance of a strong and vibrant local government sector to the community at large. They deliver a vast range of vital infrastructure and community programmes on a daily basis, right at people’s doorsteps.
“It is virtually impossible to get a referendum through – even with bi-partisan support. With the Abbott opposition offering only lukewarm support, prospects are even bleaker.
“I had hoped for a bit of leadership from WA on this issue, but after having sat on the fence for far too long, the Premier has now slipped into his default anti-Canberra position.
“The central issue here is financial security – why should councils have to line up, cap-in-hand, with their funding dependent on the whim of the state government of the day? Just this week, the Treasurer and Premier have been setting off the alarm bells, with dire warnings of further funding cuts.
“It is not widely recognized what is at stake here if this referendum was to fail – a whole range of Commonwealth funded projects would continue to have the sword of Damocles, in the form of state government interference, hanging over them.
“Future projects such as the recently completed Swan Regional Riverside Park, Champion Lakes Regatta Centre in Armadale and a tourist and information centre for the Shire of Derby/West Kimberley will be far less likely to proceed without the certainty of this constitutional change.
“At a statewide level, the Roads to Recovery scheme, which provides desperately needed roads upkeep in the regions, will be under constant threat.
The Barnett/Grylls government say the state should have 15 to 20 local metropolitan councils, compared to the current 30.
We propose an alternative to forced amalgamations, that of regional service delivery and appropriate local representation. This process would see groups of local governments establishing joint provision of technical and specialist services to achieve economies of scale.
Larger councils become less representative of the communities they serve.
Additionally the Greens WA support the Local Governments in their role as a planning decision-maker, and do not support any actions of any State Government to weaken the planning powers of Local Government.
As the sphere of government closest to the community, and the one with most flexibility to engage its local constituents in local determination, the Greens recommend that Local Government be re-empowered with respect to local planning, within the context of regional frameworks based on principles of sustainability.
To further support the autonomy and building of capacity in the Local Government sector, the Greens WA oppose forced amalgamations.
Local governments themselves were undertaking significant self-evaluation and voluntary regional collaboration prior to this process being imposed, innovation which has now been stymied by the State Government imposing its own brand of reform process on the sector, and delaying making any clear decisions.
Supporting local governments to undertake a process of strategic voluntary reform and strengthening their authority and ability to raise revenue would likely have produced a far more innovative and beneficial outcome than the laborious process the current reform process has involved.
A vision that maintains local democracy, and enhances the community’s ability to engage directly with its political representatives as well as ensuring effective service delivery can only be of benefit, both to the local government sector and to the community which it serves.
The Greens WA commend Local Governments in Western Australia for their work to date, particularly in vital environmental spheres where resources have been scant and support for Local Governments’ role in this space often denuded by State Government. What Local Government can do with a dollar and a proactive team is, at times, inspirational.
Whilst the Premier Colin Barnett says he will not force local governments to amalgamate he believes they will eventually succumb to his pressure.
Barnett’s comments that only a maximum of 20 Perth councils are needed set a dangerous dictatorial agenda for the next term of Government.
I respectfully acknowledge the Wadjuk people of the Nyoongar nation, the traditional owners of the lands on which we meet.
Parliamentary colleagues, Mayors, Presidents and Councillors. The Greens WA support Local Governments in Western Australia and nationally, and acknowledge their very valuable role in the local governance and representation of local issues and delivery of essential community services.
The Greens also acknowledge that while Local Governments work tirelessly to be able to deliver the services expected of them by community, that a large number of these service obligations come without adequate resourcing from any other sphere of Government, Commonwealth or State, putting local Governments between the proverbial ‘rock and hard place’ with respect to being able to live up to community expectations.
We’re very aware that this can create real political and public perception pressure for Local Governments, as community discontent often rests with the sphere of government that community can most readily access.
This in turn means that the State and Commonwealth are able to devolve not only some of the services that they should be providing to Local Government, again without adequate resourcing, but they are also able to abrogate any public perception issues away from their own responsibility for these issues and deflect them onto Local Government – a double deflection if you will.
To this end we wholeheartedly support Constitutional Recognition for Local Governments, and the financial security and access that this would ensure for the Local Government sector.
To continue to meet community obligations, and to continue to deliver the suite of services it provides into the future, Local Government needs to be realistically resourced, both from increased share of taxation revenue, and from grants accessible through Commonwealth provision. It is clear that current State Governments, particularly in Western Australia, neither acknowledge the value of the services that Local Governments provide, nor adequately resource these services. So in order to achieve adequate appropriation and hypothecation of funds to Local Governments, Constitutional reform is urgently needed.
These needs are particularly clear in light of the current issues around increasing street lighting costs imposed by the Coalition Government, which must be passed on to the community through rates, but which the State Government gives Local Government few, if any realistic options to reduce their costs or their emissions profiles through innovative or sustainable technologies.
This is further illustrated by current waste levy allocations, which are currently not entirely funding waste reduction or innovation, but are in part absorbed into Department of Environment’s general revenue – however, like street lighting costs – these must be charged by Local Governments, and Local Governments must therefore bear the community angst around the costs, without any on-ground benefit to show for the levies they pay and are forced to pass on. The Greens WA have drafted and given notice to introduce Container Deposit legislation.
Additionally the Greens WA support the Local Governments in their role as a planning decision-maker, and do not support any actions of any State Government to weaken the planning powers of Local Government. As the sphere of government closest to the community, and the one with most flexibility to engage its local constituents in local determination, the Greens recommend that Local Government be re-empowered with respect to local planning, within the context of regional frameworks based on principles of sustainability. This would also necessitate the removal or restructure of the Development Assessment Panels to ensure equal representation from the local government, state government and community, which is not currently afforded.
To further support the autonomy and building of capacity in the Local Government sector, the Greens WA oppose forced amalgamations or State led reform.
Local governments themselves were undertaking significant self-evaluation and voluntary regional collaboration prior to this process being imposed, innovation which has now been stymied by the State Government imposing its own brand of reform process on the sector, and delaying making any clear decisions.
Supporting local governments to undertake a process of strategic voluntary reform and strengthening their authority and ability to raise revenue would likely have produced a far more innovative and beneficial outcome than the laborious process the current reform process has inspired.
A vision that maintains local democracy, and enhances the community’s ability to engage directly with its political representatives as well as ensuring effective service delivery can only be of benefit, both to the local government sector and to the community which it serves.
Any recommendation to remove or significantly alter the rights of communities to self-determination expressed through the poll provisions contained in schedule 2.1 of the Local Government Act 1995 will be opposed by the Greens WA now and into the future.
The Greens WA commend Local Governments in Western Australia for their work to date, particularly in vital environmental spheres where resources have been scant and support for Local Governments’ role in this space often denuded by State Government. What Local Government can do with a dollar and a proactive team is, at times, inspirational.
Thank you for keeping the ‘local’ in Local Government.
Nowhere is the State Government’s development agenda more obviously displayed than in today’s announcement on the Cottesloe beachfront ‘rejuvenation’ plan.
The Government has announced the plan to allow for increases to the height limit along Marine Terrace. This modifies the Council’s planning scheme and sets in motion a plan which runs counter to community sentiment. This ‘open door’ development policy also begs the question of where the eventual responsibility and liability for the public assets that will be needed to service the beachfront developments will sit, and whether these have been considered in the context of climate change impacts and coastal erosion issues.
Greens MLC Robin Chapple expressed his disappointment at the wresting of control for planning decision making from local government today.
“This announcement illustrates the State’s deliberate interference in the ability of the people to make local decisions in a democratic manner. It effectively emasculates local government with respect to planning,” said Chapple.
“It also shows the inherent bias of the Development Assessment Panels, which are not truly representative by virtue of having fewer local members on the panels than other stakeholders – an inequitable situation at best. This situation negates the ability of the DAPS to adequately represent the community through its closest sphere of government.”
“Decisions on local planning should be made by the people, for the people. When state governments are given the power to remove a community’s right to set direction for its own community assets, it illustrates a flaw in the system that should be immediately rectified. DAPS should be reviewed to ensure equal representation from local government, if it is to continue to be used as a planning tool,” Mr Chapple said.
Independent experts had been consulted on recommended height limits for the foreshore development and these were not adhered to by the Government in this instance.
For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255
