More on (pron. mor-on) Newman Inc. (this from one of the most Con. type journos in Australia) Inside the party there are waves of discontent. The row has pitched mate against mate. Lord Mayor Graham Quirk, in his role as chairman of the Council of Mayors, demanded an urgent clarification from Planning Minister Jeff Seeney. Quirk warned of “confusion and frustration” with different councils having to factor in different sets of rules. He used the examples of Brighton and Shorncliffe in Brisbane that “will be subject to different climate change considerations” in planning than those at Clontarf and Woody Point in Moreton in suburbs separated only by Ted Smout Bridge. Moreton Bay Mayor Allan Sutherland, who has a gift of shrinking complex matters to a pithy sentence, said Seeney was suggesting climate change would happen on one side of the bridge and not the other. Moreton Bay council is heavy with LNP members and friends. But that didn’t stop the council unanimously passing a vote of non-confidence in Lisa France, the LNP Member for Pumicestone who campaigned for Seeney to exclude the climate change reference. Moreton Bay councillors went much further. They condemned France “for the ongoing dissemination, via various media and social avenues, of what the council considers to be incorrect or misleading information around council’s proposed planning scheme”. Seeney and France say they are merely safeguarding the existing rights of landholders and the order was not about climate change per se. Nevertheless they may have inadvertently handed the ALP a weapon to attack the LNP as climate change deniers. Imagine how that would play out in the election in bayside seats or in electorates such as Ashgrove, Indooroopilly, Clayfield and Brisbane where conservatives have a green tinge. The State Government must douse this controversy quickly before it turns into a bushfire. There are 26 coastal councils in Queensland waiting to see what happens next. Remember the CSIRO warns the cost of future sea rise impacts on Australia will be measured not in billions, but in trillions of dollars. There are other forces at work. Proud local councils, made up of duly elected men and women who have fought tooth and nail for a seat at the table, don’t like being pushed around by Big Brother state governments. The tensions rose when the influential Local Government Association of Queensland challenged Seeney. LGAQ president Margaret de Witt, a Newman loyalist, said the row made those involved a “laughing stock”. In a state where red tape has been cut and sensible development encouraged, let’s hope this row does not scar Seeney’s impressive record. Yesterday he was celebrating the approval of 16 major projects worth more than $70 billion to Queensland. They will create more than 44,000 jobs if they go ahead. Nevertheless the Moreton Bay rebellion has Danger UXB written all over it. Sutherland insists councils are obliged by law to consider all kinds of hazards – including possible sea rises – when assessing development applications. Legal advice to the LGAQ backs him. “Councils are obliged to properly consider coastal hazards, such as erosion, storm tide inundation and flooding when preparing planning schemes and assessing development applications,” said Tim Fynes-Clinton, a solicitor specialising in planning. “Such considerations include the effects of climate change, such as sea level rise and increased wind intensity in worsening existing coastal hazards. “To limit potential liability, councils ought to adopt a sea level rise factor in conformity with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.” Fynes-Clinton said failure to factor in the theoretical 0.8m sea rise “would not be prudent and would significantly increase exposure of councils to liability”. Leading barrister Robert Bain, QC, said the inclusion of adviser notes in a planning scheme may limit liability “but will not absolve council from liability at the development assessment phase”. Sutherland also won support from the Planning Institute of Australia’s Kirsty Kelly. She called for all spheres of government to show leadership in dealing with the impacts of rising sea levels. Kelly said politics was taking precedent “over globally recognised science”. couriermail.au/news/opinion/will-climate-change-denials-sink-the-lnp/story-fnihsr9v-1227162438856?nk=97e2ccd1c4448c7bdd237d95a31aaae3
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 08:50:26 +0000
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