Ms O’CONNOR – Minister, your predecessor, in September 2021, announced that the Reserve Activity Assessment reforms would include the following amendments:
Mandatory elements of the RAA process for major uses and developments.
Establishment of an independent assessment panel to assess and review significant proposals against the relevant management plans –
which, as we know on the history, minister, your Government changes to suit developers.
Also recommended by the previous minister –
Mr JAENSCH – What was that last one?
Ms O’CONNOR – Establishment of an independent assessment panel to assess and review significant proposals against the relevant management plans.
Provision for third-party appeals and cost recovery for RAA assessments.
Publication of leases and licences over reserved land.
Are these measures in place? We don’t believe they are and that was almost two years ago. Could you please provide a time frame as to when leases and licences over reserved land will be published?
Mr JAENSCH – Thank you. I’ll separate the two issues, if I may. The review of the RAA is a matter we are working on right now.
Ms O’CONNOR – Still? It’s glacial.
Mr JAENSCH – It is and partly because there are some threshold issues that I want to try and get absolutely right. This comes from me coming in late on this but with a background as minister for Planning previously. Given that our reserve estate covers half of the land area of Tasmania and the fact that there is an overlap of planning legislation and approvals processes with LUPA at the moment, what I am trying to ensure is that we examine all opportunities to create separate equivalent processes for LUPA land and reserved land.
Ms O’CONNOR – Why should they be equivalent? They are quite different lands.
Mr JAENSCH – They are quite different lands but I am sure that you would want there to be a level of public access to the process, a level of independence, the opportunities to appeal matters that currently exist under LUPA in a process that was not complicated by being embedded in a LUPA process, where there’s also a lot of other things that are town planning matters that don’t have much use in parks and areas managed primarily for their natural values.
So, I’ve been going backward and forward – I’m being brutally honest with you – with the department for quite some time since I’ve been back in the Parks minister role to arrive at a concept that we can consult on that creates that separation but gives us the rigour that we would need for, effectively, a land use planning process that works in our parks areas.
Ms O’CONNOR – That makes commercial developments in parks a non-discretionary use or something?
Mr JAENSCH – I’m being very open and honest with you and you’re being cynical and nasty to me.
Ms O’CONNOR – You can’t blame us – I’m not trying to be nasty. It’s the cynicism over an agenda to commercially exploit areas that were set aside for their natural and cultural values, not just for Tasmanians but for the world. So pardon my cynicism. It is well-cultivated.
Mr JAENSCH – You’re very good at it.
Ms O’CONNOR – Since 2014, when we’ve watched your Government rewrite management plans to allow developments like the Lake Malbena proposal, and we’ll get to that shortly, the cynicism comes from the promise that was originally made by Will Hodgman as Premier, then Mrs Petrusma reinforced it and now, two years later, still it seems like nothing much has been done. And I hear what you said. But maybe you could just give us a time frame because, hopefully, you don’t think this can go out to the never never again.
Also, when you tabled the update, you tabled the report to the review of the Aboriginal Heritage Act. One of the recommendations in there was also that Reserve Activity Assessments become much more culturally sensitive –
Mr JAENSCH – And bring Aboriginal heritage matters earlier in the process.
Ms O’CONNOR – That’s right. That’s one question with two parts because you didn’t answer the time frame question in my first one.
Mr JAENSCH – Again, I’d be aiming to bring a consultation paper on a range of proposed reforms within coming months. In terms of any changes that have been made to the consideration of Aboriginal heritage matters in RAA processes –
Ms O’CONNOR – Not much happening so far though; is that right?
Mr JAENSCH – The other matter that you’ve referred to is the requirement to make leases and licences publicly available. The department has been working through the body of material that involves, which is around 6000 leases and licences. We’re not trying to release all of that at once. There is a process being developed to prioritise which come first so that we can release and publicise leases and licences in tranches as we get to them. I would be happy for Mr Jacobi to make comment where we’re up to in that process.
Ms O’CONNOR – Briefly, thank you.
Mr JACOBI – This is in relation to the lease and licence tranches? I’ll defer to Will Joscelyne.
Ms O’CONNOR – The Reserve Activity Assessment publications and Aboriginal heritage.
Mr JACOBI – I can address the question about Aboriginal heritage assessments first. The Parks and Wildlife Service is conducting activities which it believes have the potential to impact on cultural values. We normally commission an independent assessment by a technical specialist in the field. We also refer very closely with our colleagues in Aboriginal Heritage Tasmania and seek advice from them. If the matter requires, they normally refer to the matter to the Aboriginal Heritage Council who subsequently make a decision or a recommendation, which is then considered by myself and the Minister for Parks.
