Community alliance named as Planning Institute’s national Planning Champion

Watch Last Night’s PIA Awards Ceremony here at 44:14 / 53:20

The Planning Matters Alliance Tasmania (PMAT) has been awarded the national “Planning Champion” award at the Planning Institute of Australia’s Awards last night, after last year winning the Tasmanian ‘champion’. This national award recognises non-planners for their advocacy or for making a significant contribution and lasting presence to the urban and regional environment.

The Institute’s bio describes PMAT as “a strong model for uniting community groups to think about and engage with planning frameworks. The breadth of community groups and individuals engaging with PMAT demonstrates the organisation’s reach, and the platform of 6 key principles clearly focusses on promoting good planning outcomes. The role PMAT has played in educating the community about shifting planning schemes and the strong advocacy for the planning profession has increased understanding of what planning is about and how it relates to broader issues like climate change.”

“Land use planning is a complex issue that impacts every inch of Tasmania so it is fundamental to our way of life and the future of the state we will be living in,” said PMAT state coordinator Sophie Underwood. “Our members are community groups from across the state with a diverse spectrum of interests, issues and political views, so this award is vindication of their concerns and validation of their efforts.”

“While the Tasmanian Government may use Parliament to describe us as a ‘fringe group’ and ‘glow worms’, the nationwide body representing professional planners considers us the national champion in community-based advocacy and we thank the Planning Institute of Australia for this inspiring award.”.

 “Planning must be robust, transparent and fair but we’re seeing the Tasmanian system slide in the wrong direction. This will lead to perverse outcomes, inappropriate development and conflict across the community as people are shut out of decisions that affect their future”.

“PMAT is 100% funded by donations and largely volunteer driven, so we’re immensely proud of this award and what we’ve achieved in Tasmania – it gives us strength to continue.”

Today alliance member groups will be meeting at Ross for our AGM to discuss our plans for the future.

We congratulate all other nominees and winners and thank PIA for this award.

For Comment:

Sophie Underwood PMAT State Coordinator 0407 501 999

Anne Harrison PMAT State President 0419 585 291

*The Planning Matters Alliance Tasmania (PMAT) is working for a better land use planning system to protect the values that makes Tasmania such a special place to live and visit. View PMAT’s alliance member groups here. PMAT groups are united by their Platform Document and consider these 6 key principles should underpin Tasmania’s planning system to ensure the best future for this state.