MEDIA RELEASE - Representation highlights concerns around the Draft Integrated Assessment Report for the Multipurpose Stadium
- will62509
- Apr 3
- 2 min read
The Macquarie Point Development Corporation has today made the first of what it anticipates being a series of representations in response to the Draft Integrated Assessment Report issued by the Tasmanian Planning Commission.
CEO Anne Beach said the Corporation had received legal advice in relation to the report which highlighted significant concerns in the approach and analysis, noting it does not comply with the requirements of the State Policies and Projects Act 1993, contain errors of law, is argumentative and lacks balance and relies on untested material.
While the Act requires the release of a Draft Integrated Assessment Report, the document released only focuses on a selection of issues, and states that it consciously does not comment on areas where there are no ‘significant issues’. These appear to exclude any material focus on project benefits.
By focusing only on a subset of issues, Ms Beach said the legal advice received indicated the Draft Integrated Assessment Report was incomplete, argumentative and lacks balance, which will make it difficult for the community and interested parties to make informed representations.
“As a Project of State Significance, the project needs to be assessed in accordance with a set process. As part of this assessment, the normal planning provisions are effectively ‘turned off’ to allow for a broader consideration of the project. That approach hasn’t been applied in the report,” Ms Beach said.
“Our advice is that the project scope has also been unreasonably extended. While the development is contained within our site boundary, the report suggests including infrastructure developments that go well beyond the space and direct infrastructure required for the project, and proposes including infrastructure serving a whole section of the city,” she said.
The legal advice is that, to maintain the integrity of the process, the draft integrated assessment report should be given limited, if any, weight.
“We will make a more detailed representation shortly, however, we felt it was important to highlight some of the key issues identified with this report promptly to express our concerns to the Commission.”
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In short, the Representation sets out legal advice that outlines concerns with the report, including:
• The unreasonable extension of the Project scope definition outside of the boundary agreed by the Parliament and the footprint that is required.
• Extending the economic impact assessments into areas beyond the reasonable scope for assessing the project, including matters concerning budget decisions, total state sector debt and credit rating.
• Adoption of the Gruen report noting the author was not identified as a Relevant Agency, it includes untested assumptions and other members of the public did not have opportunities to make representations prior to the release of the report.
• Presenting a Draft Integrated Assessment Report that only considered some issues, and consciously does not consider others, and makes findings prior to receiving representations.
A copy of the representation is below: