Independent planning report should be ignored, MPDC says
The Macquarie Point Development Corporation has issued a blistering rejection of an independent expert panel’s assessment of its proposed stadium.
Tasmania
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The Macquarie Point Development Corporation has issued a blistering rejection of an independent expert panel’s assessment of its proposed stadium.
MPDC chief Ann Beach said advice from top law firm Minter Ellison indicated the panel’s first report under the Project of State Significance was “incomplete, argumentative and lacks balance”.
She says it should be given “limited, if any weight”.
The Planning Commission’s Draft Integrated Assessment Report, released on Monday, found the project would add $1.86bn to the state’s debt over a decade and could trigger a credit rating downgrade for the government
It also found the stadium would likely not inspire many more Tasmanians to take up sport and would have an adverse effect on the historic waterfront precinct and on the Cenotaph.
Ms Beach said the legal advice “highlighted significant concerns in the approach and analysis”.
“As a Project of State Significance, the project needs to be assessed in accordance with a set process,” she said.
“Our advice is that the project scope has also been unreasonably extended.
The enabling order signed by Premier Jeremy Rockliff in October last year gave the Commission a wide brief to “examine the environmental, social, economic and community impacts of the project” and its impacts on the surrounding area.
But Ms Beach said the panel had gone too far.
“While the development is contained within our site boundary, the report suggests including infrastructure developments that go well beyond the space and direct infrastructure required for the project, and proposes including infrastructure serving a whole section of the city.
“The legal advice is that, to maintain the integrity of the process, the draft integrated assessment report should be given limited, if any, weight.”
The Planning Commission Panel which produced the report included such as former Assistant Solicitor-General (Litigation) Paul Turner, SC, and former Secretary of the Department of Treasury and Finance Martin Wallace.
The Draft Integrated Assessment Report is open for public comment until May 8, although it appears increasingly likely that the government will abandon the planning process.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff ruled nothing out on Thursday.
“The ultimate arbiter of the stadium will be through the Project of State Significance process or enabling legislation, as I outlined very transparently yesterday,” he said.
“Today, I am deeply concerned about the report. Mac Point’s legal advice released this morning is that the TPC’s report contains errors of law, approach and analysis.
“It is argumentative and lacks balance.
“At the very least, it throws into extreme doubt the timeline for the Project of State Significance assessment.
“As I have said, the clock is ticking and we must get on with the job.”
Originally published as Independent planning report should be ignored, MPDC says
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