Media Release

Peter Gutwein MP
Liberal Member for Bass

Tuesday 19th January 2010

A disgrace that local residents’ concerns were ignored

Member for Bass Peter Gutwein today said that it was a disgrace that residents’ concerns were totally ignored regarding Housing Tasmania’s proposed multiple unit developments at Mt Stuart Drive.

I am very concerned that the written concerns of more than 40 residents as well as a petition with more than 100 signatures was ignored by the State Government, and that these units will proceed without any modifications at all to the plans as first proposed.

What needs to be understood is that the local residents were not against having public housing properties in their area.

However, they quite rightly in my opinion wanted the developments to be of a similar scale, size and quality to the homes that have been and still are being constructed in this area.

The Government are bulldozing their way forward without offering any options whatsoever to the local residents who have raised concerns and this is very concerning.

When this fast-track legislation was debated in Parliament last year, David Bartlett explicitly said that a proponent may modify a project “to take into account comments made during the public consultation”.

These appear to have been hollow words, and the Government must explain how it is that over 40 written submissions from local residents can be ignored, as well as a strongly-supported petition.