{"id":71189,"date":"2025-08-15T21:48:23","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T21:48:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/71189\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T21:48:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T21:48:23","slug":"parliamentary-inquiry-to-probe-cook-governments-anti-nimby-planning-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/71189\/","title":{"rendered":"Parliamentary inquiry to probe Cook government’s anti-NIMBY planning laws"},"content":{"rendered":"

A newly established parliamentary inquiry will scrutinise a controversial West Australian planning pathway used by developers vying to build multi-million-dollar projects.<\/p>\n

Backed by the Legislative Council on Tuesday, the inquiry will focus on WA’s significant development pathway, which allows developers of major projects to sidestep local council approval.<\/p>\n

Opposition and crossbench MPs backed the committee over the Cook government’s objections.<\/p>\n

Planning Minister John Carey accused the opposition and crossbench of being “anti-development”, saying the system had allowed for the approval of $5 billion worth of projects.<\/p>\n

WA councils outraged over new planning laws<\/a><\/p>\n

WA’s local government authority hits back at a major new property development policy that slashes councils’ say over the look of the state’s suburbs and towns.<\/p>\n

“They’re proposing reforms that will put a critical handbrake on the Western Australian economy,” he told parliament on Thursday.<\/p>\n

First introduced as a stimulus measure during the COVID-19 pandemic, the significant development pathway was last year enshrined as a permanent<\/a> feature of the planning system.<\/p>\n

The State Development Assessment Panel, now called the Significant Development Assessment Panel (SDAU), is considering controversial plans for luxury resorts at Gnarabup and Smiths Beach in WA’s South West.<\/p>\n

The inquiry will also put a spotlight on the Cook government’s plans for a street motorsport circuit in Perth’s Burswood Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Artists<\/p>\n

The proposed $217 million development at Burswood Park will also be scrutinised. (Supplied: WA Labor)<\/p>\n

Committee to hold government ‘accountable’<\/p>\n

The inquiry’s select committee will be chaired by Liberal MLC Neil Thomson and composed of Liberal, Labor and crossbench MPs.<\/p>\n

Opposition Legislative Council leader Nick Goiran said it would be a fair way to look at WA’s planning system.<\/p>\n

“It can look into any of these land transactions [and] planning decisions \u2026 they have the opportunity to call witnesses in, to summon them, to subpoena documents,” he said.<\/p>\n

“A select committee of parliament doesn’t have the power to stop any of these things, but they do have the power to call them in and hold them accountable.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

WA Liberal MP Neil Thomson will chair the committee. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago, Mr Carey told a Sydney Institute forum the planning reforms had been designed to tackle “NIMBYism” \u2014 or “not in my backyard” attitudes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I do want to address NIMBYism, or as I call them, the BANANA people: build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything,” he said in the address.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

John Carey talked up the “balanced” planning process in a speech to the Sydney Institute. (Supplied: The Syndey Institute\/Youtube)<\/p>\n

“It is because of the nay-sayers, our government has been bold, resolute and clear in the need to reform our planning system.”<\/p>\n

He spoke of the “balanced” planning decisions by the SDAU, which is made up of three planning professionals and two council members.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The developer behind a tourism plan near Smiths Beach is using the significant development pathway. (ABC South West: Anthony Pancia)<\/p>\n

Spotlight on coastal hotels<\/p>\n

Developer Saracen Properties opted to submit its plans for a $138 million luxury resort at Gnarabup through the significant development pathway.<\/p>\n

The Shire of Augusta-Margaret River opposes the multi-million-dollar resort, 280 kilometres south of Perth, but will not be the final decision maker.<\/p>\n

Shire President Julia Jean-Rice welcomed the inquiry.<\/p>\n

She said she was concerned the Cook government was “slowly but surely” removing the powers of local government.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A hotel overlooking Gnarabup, opposed by the local council, is being considered. (ABC South West: Jacqueline Lynch)<\/p>\n

“We are not all NIMBY councils,” Ms Jean-Rice said<\/p>\n

“We’re the closest to the people, and quite often we feel the impacts of whatever is happening in the community; we’re the people on the ground.<\/p>\n

“We are really feeling a lack of ability to influence development and general planning processes within our council.”\"Julia<\/p>\n

Julia Jean-Rice says she is concerned about the dwindling powers of local governments. (Supplied: Augusta-Margaret River Shire)<\/p>\n

Further up the coast at Yallingup, a group of residents has been fighting for a tourism village near Smiths Beach to be scaled back.<\/p>\n

Save Smiths Beach Action Group spokesperson David Mitchell said he hoped the inquiry would uncover answers for locals.<\/p>\n

“There’s a lot of concerns that the SDAU process has really just created a vehicle for the developers to bypass proper assessment and transparency,” he said<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

David Mitchell says he hopes the inquiry highlights the controversial tourism development in Yallingup. (ABC South West WA: Pip Waller)<\/p>\n

“We hope that our project is used as a test case because this impacts all coastal areas around the state, not just Smiths Beach.”<\/p>\n

The inquiry will have a year to hand down its findings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A newly established parliamentary inquiry will scrutinise a controversial West Australian planning pathway used by developers vying to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,55871,44,55869,55870,55877,55874,55873,55875,41,39,42,40,55876,55872],"class_list":["post-71189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-hotel-development","tag-news","tag-nimbyism","tag-not-in-my-backyard","tag-planning-applications-approved-without-local-council","tag-significant-development-assessment-panel","tag-significant-development-pathway","tag-smiths-beach-luxury-resort-proposal","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-wa-planning-laws-parliamentary-inquiry","tag-wa-planning-policy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}