08 April 2011
The NSW Labor Opposition has today appointed its new shadow cabinet. Linda Burney has been appointed shadow planning minister, and Luke Foley has been appointed shadow environment minister.
Mr Foley recently said that the Labor Party paid too much attention to property developers during its time in office. “Labor – the party formed to fight for the outsiders – ultimately became identified as a government for party insiders and property developers,” Mr Foley said. The former Planning Minister, Tony Kelly, has been appointed Shadow Minister for Roads, Ports and Primary Industries. A full list of the shadow cabinet members and their responsibilities is here.
The Urban Taskforce has been asked to nominate individuals who could participate in an access panel to consider claims of ‘unjustifiable hardship’ under the Premises Standard for people with disabilities. Nominations close on Friday 15 April 2011. Please contact us if you would like us to nominate you or you think there is a person we should nominate. More detail is here.
NSW Premier, Barry O’Farrell, and federal Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, are at loggerheads as to whether or not Sydney needs a second airport. ”Whether the central coast, the south-west or the western suburbs, find me an area that is not going to end up causing enormous grief to people who currently live around it,” Mr O’Farrell said. He advocates high-speed rail lines to Melbourne and Brisbane instead. More information is here. The Premier’s position has been welcomed by Greens MPCate Faehrmann (her release is here).
Initial stages of preparatory work on the North West Rail Link have begun. More information is here.
The NSW Department of Planning and infrastructure has issued a circular that provides information about recent amendments to the Sydney Regional Environmental Plan (Sydney Harbour Catchment) 2005, relating to subdivision of the harbour. The amendments to the REP allow subdivision in limited circumstances such as where the subdivision relates to land with an existing development consent, Part 3A project approval or is an existing use. Where the land to be subdivided is owned by the Maritime Authority of NSW the consent authority will be the Minister for Ports. In other cases the consent authority will be the Council or Department of Planning and Infrastructure. The planning circular providing further detail is here.
The National Water Commission (NWC) has released a report that urges all levels of government to reconsider the way that they deliver and manage water to urban areas. The NWC say that their report, Urban water in Australia: future directions is a report that encourages the removal of barriers to the wider use of recycled water, new dams and water trading to address concerns that the water supplies of cities and towns cannot handle future droughts, floods and other environmental constraints. The report recommends more flexibility in water prices, including allowing customers to pay for different levels of supply security and says government subsidies which shield consumers from price rises should be restricted. The full NWC report is available from here.
