22 September 2009
The Urban Taskforce today welcomed a new Federal Government policy statement declaring that planning laws hinder new supermarkets, acting as an artificial barrier to entry and expansion.
Theres been strong demand by both retailers and consumers for newly-developed properties in good locations, Mr Gadiel said.
But developers have been stymied by restrictive planning laws protecting existing shopping centres from competition.
The Federal Governments policy statement, released last Friday, said that planning laws are particularly a problem for independent supermarkets, since most states and territories have adopted so-called centres policies to concentrate their retail activities in one location and shopping centre owners have a strong preference to lease space to the largest retailers.
The Federal Government has referred the anti-competitive impacts of state and local zoning and planning laws to the Business Regulation and Competition Working Group established by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG).
The group will submit reform recommendations to COAG later this year, but the government has promised that it will work individually with any state or territory that is committed to early reform.
The reform push is clearly gaining momentum, Mr Gadiel said.
In August last year both the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the Productivity Commission recommend relaxation of town planning laws to create more competition between retail landlords and retailers. NSW and Victoria have both commenced reviews of their retail policies as a consequence.
The ACCC found that current town planning rules contribute to increasing the level of concentration in the retail grocery sector. The Productivity Commission has been particularly scathing, saying that small retail tenants face an uphill battle in negotiating with oligopolistic shopping centre landlords.
The Urban Taskforce is a property development industry group, representing Australias most prominent property developers and equity financiers.
The construction activity made possible by property developers contributes $69 billion to the national economy each year and creates 709,000 direct jobs. The construction industry is Australias third largest source of employment.
