Planning Commission rejects claims it has exceeded stadium brief from Mac Point Corp

The Head of the Tasmanian Planning Commission has rejected legal advice from the Macquarie Point Corp who said their stadium assessment ‘exceeded its brief’. The panel’s response.

New renders of Hobart's proposed Macquarie Point AFL Stadium. Picture: Macquarie Point Development Corporation

The chief of the Tasmanian Planning Commission has completely rejected legal advice the Macquarie Point Development Corporation claims showed the planning body’s stadium assessment exceeded its brief.

The MPDC last week released legal advice it commissioned from law firm Minter Ellison claiming the TPC’s Draft Integrated Assessment Report into its proposed stadium was

was “incomplete, argumentative and lacks balance” and should be given “limited, if any weight”.

Planning Commission chair John Ramsay has written to the law firm on behalf of the chair of the stadium assessment panel, Paul Turner SC.

Paul Turner SC from office of the solicitor general enters the Lake Malbena Planning Tribunal. Picture: Zak Simmonds

He rejected the suggestion claim the panel was exceeding its brief and said the panel was being advised by former Tasmanian Solicitor-General Michael O’Farrell SC.

“The Macquarie Point Development Corporation has been aware of the Commission’s view of the scope of the assessment since the publication of the Guidelines, and its view was subsequently confirmed to the MPDC in my correspondence to the MPDC of 22 January last,’ he wrote.

“Notwithstanding assertions in your representation to the contrary, the Commission

maintains the view that the scope of the assessment as reflected in the published Draft

Integrated Assessment Report (DIAR) is concordant with the terms the State Policies and

Projects Act 1993 (the Act), the Order made by Her Excellency the Governor, and the

Direction given by the Minister.”

“The Commission looks forward to the MPDC making representations about the issues

raised in the DIAR, so that the Commission, and all those who have an interest in the

project, are fully informed about the relevant issues.

“This will enable the Commission to complete the final Integrated Assessment Report and make a recommendation to the Minister as required by the Act.”

MPDC CEO Anne Beach said last week the Planning Commission was casting too broad a net with its assessment.

Anne Beach CEO Macquarie Point Development Corporation. Budget estimates 2024. Day 2. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“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,” she said.

She questioned whether a bus stop in Clarence might form part of the assessment if it was to be used by football fans on the way to a match.

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” its impacts on the surrounding area.

The TPC’s Draft Integrated Assessment Report is open for public comment until May 8, although it appears increasingly likely that the government will abandon the Project of State Significance planning process it chose in favour of enabling legislation.

Originally published as Planning Commission rejects claims it has exceeded stadium brief from Mac Point Corp