NSW Planning Minister Frank Sartor used his keynote address to the Planning Institute of Australia’s annual conference in Sydney on Monday (April 14) to defend proposed amendments to the state’s planning system.

He told delegates that the draft changes addressed some of the key underlining concerns for planning nationally: promoting continued economic growth, supplying adequate housing supply, cutting the administrative burden and harmonisation of regulation across borders.

Mr Sartor said there was an inherent conflict in the public’s expectations of government when it came to planning decisions.

“People want elected government to be principled and to make decisions in the public interest – except when it affects them. The daily work of government is to reconcile competing self-interest,” he said.

“You know the developers are aggressive and self-interested … but local communities are also self-interested and, although there is an ideological layer, most players in the planning system are actually self-interested. They might be protecting their neighbourhood – and they’re legitimate issues – but local interest constitutes just as legitimate a concern as a developer.”

While Mr Sartor said he did not have a problem listening to the views of local people about development projects, he was concerned when outside parties joined local opposition and tried to “run agendas” and play politics through local planning decisions.

Infrastructure impacts
Mr Sartor denied changes to developer contributions would adversely affect the ability of councils to provide basic community infrastructure. He said the draft legislation allowed councils to levy for basic items but they would need a business plan, independent auditing and approval when attempting to levy for ‘additional’ infrastructure.

“We’re simply saying set priorities and make sure you really need it before you build,” Mr Sartor said.

“We’re saying you’ve got to be mindful of affordability, the economy and the fact that you actually need to build this facility. I’m hoping that the new legislation will lead to a cultural change.”

Political donations
The Planning Minister briefly mentioned developer donations during his keynote conference address, saying, “you need to understand that when it gets to the Government level, cabinet ministers are primarily concerned about – you’d thinking reading the newspapers that they’re concerned about donations to their political party but in fact it’s not the case – what they’re primarily concerned about is economic growth, they’re concerned about jobs”.

“If and when donations are outlawed – because any planning minister will tell you that they’ll be rejoicing because they are a huge distraction and try to colour the good work that is done in the planning department – the general positioning won’t change,” he said.

“Governments will still be concerned about economic growth.”

Asked in a post-address media conference about stories in the weekend Sydney Morning Herald alleging inappropriate influence by developers in state planning decisions, Mr Sartor dismissed the claims as rubbish and said his department gave independent advice.