Greens MP slams govt’s
‘free hand’ to developers
NEW South Wales Greens MP, David Shoebridge, says the State Government plans to introduce the most pro-developer and anti-community laws in the country.
State Planning Minister, Brad Hazzard, has flagged a revolutionary overhaul of the 33-year-old Planning Act within weeks.
He has told Sydney media it will end uncertainty faced by developers who buy land not knowing if their plans will be approved when they submit development applications.
The planning laws will also end the practice where complaints from individual residents can block or modify proposed new developments.
Mr Shoebridge says the overhaul will give developers a “free hand”.
“If made law, these changes will deliver Sydney and NSW directly into the hands of the development industry,” he says in a statement today (Wednesday).
Mr Shoebridge flagged a return to the “bad old days of the 1960s and 70s”.
“A lot of what was precious in this state was bulldozed for ugly and inappropriate development,” he says.
Mr Shoebridge says it is shocking to think that people can be seriously affected by a major development without the right to comment on the proposal.
“Anyone with any experience in planning knows that communities only seriously engage with development once a specific proposal is on the books,” he says.
“No amount of wishful thinking will change this.” | 
State
