13 May 2011
At a mediation session chaired by former Land and Environment court judge Robert Talbot between Lend Lease, the Barangaroo Delivery Authority and “Australians for Sustainable Development” (an anti-development lobby group) yesterday, an agreement was apparently reached. Key elements of the agreement include:
- the Minister for Infrastructure and Planning, Brad Hazzard, has ordered a review and will appoint a independent person to conduct it;
- terms of reference for the “short sharp review” of the processes that have ocurred to date will be determined in the next week; and
- Australians for Sustainable Development agreed to withdraw the court action, allowing certain works on site to commence.
The Mr Hazzard expects the review to take one to two months.
Earlier in the week, Mr Hazzard, made a statement to Parliament about the Barangaroo development.
“Barangaroo is a project that deserves better than Labor has done to it,” Mr Hazzard said.
“We will ensure that the citizens of New South Wales know that we are getting it right and that we have listened to their concerns over Barangaroo.
“In doing so, we will give business … confidence to want to do business in this State.
“Barangaroo is vitally important for this State.
“It will have the finest parklands, it will be a people place, and of course that it will be a magnet for business and the community.
“We will explore all reasonable ways to offer the opportunity to mediate on concerns related to [legal] proceedings.
“I make clear that I have discussed with Lend Lease the Government’s strong expectation that there will be full compliance with the normal clean up criteria required under the State Environmental Planning Policy – as if it had not been amended.
“The Government is intent on working with the proponent to achieve the best outcome in the southern precinct.
“We recognise that we are coming in to this process after it is well advanced on the headland park, and we will work to ensure the best outcomes in that regard and in the middle precinct area.”
Mr Hazzard’s full speech is here.
