Opinion Piece

“The Proposed Development Assessment Panels are a massive step backwards for Tasmania’s transparency and democracy.” The Mercury.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Planning Michael Ferguson for a quiet little policy to water down Tasmania’s planning laws so that ‘certain development applications’ would not be considered by local councils, or potentially subject to public appeals, but determined by Development Assessment Panels (DAPs) instead. The minister hasn’t talked about this much lately, despite a 400-strong public meeting held last week by a very concerned Planning Matters Alliance Tasmania.

“More than 200 submissions called on the JDAP to reject the proposal by WA Police to build a four-storey district police centre in the buffer of the world heritage listed Fremantle Prison, which will involve destroying a section of convict-built wall built in the 1850s.”

“Local planning panels were created to stamp out corruption, but councillors from across the political spectrum say they favour developers and undermine democratic accountability.
Liberal mayors have joined Labor and Greens councillors in criticising the NSW planning system.”

PMAT concurs with the opinion piece, published in The Mercury on the 29 November 2023 entitled ‘New planning proposal removes independent review of decisions and risks, undermining confidence’, by Anja Hilkemeijer and Cleo Hansen-Lohrey lecturers in law at the University of Tasmania who teach constitutional law and administrative law respectively.

What is the real reason why the Minister for Planning Michael Ferguson, wants to create DAPs (Development Assessment Panels) to allow property developers to bypass local councils and communities and remove appeal rights?