Despite the Liberals’ failure to listen to the Parliament and community when they rejected the push for Development Assessment Panels last year, they’re again publicly consulting on the bill.
The Liberals’ DAPs proposal was roundly rejected by hundreds of public submissions and the Legislative Council last year. Earlier this year, they released the bill again – changing little but the file name.
Now the ghost of DAPs past has returned, with a third iteration of the bill being released. While it’s welcome the role of the Minister in referring a development application to a DAP has been removed, it doesn’t solve all the other issues with this bill.
DAPs will undermine the planning system and result in worse outcomes for the community. As a former Mayor himself, Minister Vincent should know that taking councils out of the planning process will take decisions on developments will further away from the communities affected by them.
If the government was truly interested in consultation on their DAPs bill, they would be open to the possibility of abandoning the policy altogether. Otherwise, this public consultation will once again be nothing more than meaningless lip service.
