***PLEASE SHARE WIDELY (COPY & PASTE)*** PLEASE BE ADVISED; THIS WAS MEANT TO HAVE ALREADY BEEN DECIDED.. HOWEVER A LITTLE BIRDY TOLD ME THAT IT STILL HAS NOT BEEN FINALISED AND WE CAN STILL KEEP RINGING. SO NEXT WEEK PLEASE MAKE THE CALL IF YOU HAVNT ALREADY... PLEASE ACT TODAY NSW PLANNING BILL Last week, the NSW Government rammed its new Planning Bill through the Lower House of the NSW Parliament. If this Bill passes the Upper House and becomes law, it will be a disaster for all communities struggling against damaging CSG and coal developments. Please phone Legislative Council member (listed below) to Stop The Dangerous Pro-Mining Planning Laws Now the NSW Government may try to push this Bill through the NSW Upper House as early as next week, Tuesday 12th November. We have a very short window to act. In June when Hartcher and OFarrell tried to ram through the NSW Petroleum Amendment Bill 2013 (jeremybuckingham.org/petroleum-onshore-amendment-bill-2013/ with its failure to give landholders the right to lock the gate) we all acted and stopped it at the Upper House. the Legislative Council. Safeguards will be lost: If passed by the Upper House, this Bill will result in many important safeguards in the current system being lost and will do nothing to fix the gaping holes in the current laws that have promoted mining at the expense of communities. Everything is at stake - water resources, air quality, public health. In a system which is already stacked against farmers, water resources and natural areas, this Bill will make it even easier for mining and gas companies to get their developments approved and make it even tougher for communities to have their voices heard. The Upper House of the NSW Parliament can STOP the Bill. Can you ring the key politicians holding the balance of power in the Upper House today, and ask them NOT to pass the Bill in its current form? • Paul Green, Christian Democrat Party - Phone (02) 9230 3484, [email protected] • Fred Nile, Christian Democrat Party - Phone (02) 9230 2478, [email protected] • Robert Brown, Shooters and Fishers Party - Phone (02) 9230 3059, [email protected] • Robert Borsak, Shooters and Fishers Party - Phone (02) 9230 2850, [email protected] • Luke Foley, Australian Labor Party - Phone (02) 9230 2927, [email protected](the Greens arent on list as they have already said theyll vote against it) • Your local Liberal MP A phone call has much greater impact than an email, so please phone in today if you possibly can, but failing that, an email in your own words is worth doing as well. KEY POINTS TO MAKE Prior to the last election, the NSW Government promised to scrap the notorious Part 3A of the planning laws and to hand power back to communities. However, this new Planning Bill basically retains the worst elements of Part 3A and does nothing to empower local communities or councils - instead centralising power even more with the Department of Planning, sidelining the expertise of other agencies and removing legal rights for communities. If passed by the Upper House, this Bill will result in many important safeguards in the current system being lost and will do nothing to fix the gaping holes in the current laws that have promoted mining at the expense of communities. Everything is at stake - water resources, air quality, public health. Although the NSW Government made a few changes to the draft Bill prior to its introduction into Parliament, they have not fixed the worst aspects of it which were raised in many hundreds of submissions earlier in the year. Link to the full Bill: parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/nswbills.nsf/d6079cf53295ca7dca256e66001e39d2/33e72ad6ea1238b5ca257c0c0014134d?OpenDocument SUMMARY OF FAILINGS OF THE BILL The major failings of the Planning Bill, as passed by the Lower House of Parliament, are: 1. The community has very limited rights to appeal to the courts against a decision on coal and gas development, and no rights at all when there has been a public hearing by the Planning Assessment Commission. 2. The Bill breaks one of the most important pre-election promises of the OFarrell Government - it does NOT return power to local communities, but instead leaves local councils without any decision-making role in significant coal and gas development. 3. The Bill confers extraordinary and unprecedented power on the Planning Minister and the Director General of Planning - allowing them to direct and control other agencies and local government and over-riding other important legislation. 4. The Bill effectively continues the notorious Part 3A of the previous system under a new name - State Significant development. 5. The Bill allows regulations which will force consent authorities to approve developments, no matter how damaging, if they meet some basic minimum standard, and will prevent consent authorities from setting conditions which are stronger then minimum standards. 6. The Bill provides developers with many avenues to over-ride local plans, (through re-zoning, strategic compatibility certificates etc) which is likely to facilitate mining development and infrastructure, ie workers camps, in unsuitable locations. 7. Consultation requirements are inadequate, particularly in relation to minimum exhibition requirements for state significant developments and strategic plans, which are far too short. 8. The principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) are not included in the objects of the Bill which means that matters such as the precautionary principle and intergenerational equity are not considered. 9. The Bill does nothing to improve Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to address cumulative impacts or to require baseline monitoring or Health Impact Assessments, nor does it address conflicts of interest in the assessment process.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Nov 2013 04:30:36 +0000
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