Additional Comments from the Australian Labor Party and the Australian Greens
Approval by Minister
We remain concerned that the 'deemed approval' provisions
within the Act are potentially open to manipulation. The reason given that in
the beginning, airport development companies required surety of their
investment is no longer relevant, especially since in the decade since the Act
was established, this 'deemed approval' has never been used.
We remain concerned that these provisions may, in the
future, have the potential to be manipulated, and are satisfied that in the
past decade there has been no use of these provisions, therefore the 'deemed
approval' provision is no longer required in the Act.
We recommend that the following be added:
The non-government Senators are not satisfied that the
'deemed approval' provisions provided for under sections 81(5), 94(6) and
126(5) are necessary and recommend that these sections be amended to result in
a 'refusal' rather than an 'approval' at the end of the period of days
available for consideration.
Consecutive projects
We believe that the amendments outlined in Item 74, to
aggregate developments, are a positive step in improving airport development
planning processes. However we would rather the provision require that
the Minister determine that specified developments constitute a major airport
development, rather than indicating that the Minister may determine.
The non-government Senators
believe that the extension of the Minister's power to aggregate developments
under section 89 should be set out as a requirement in the Act rather than
allow the Minister the discretion to aggregate developments.
Committee view
The non-government Senators consider that the public
consultation process will be much improved if airport-lessee companies, as part
of the public comment process, make available to the general public copies of
assessments undertaken to assess the social, environment and economic impacts
of the development.
We recommend that the following be added:
Environmental, social and
economic impact assessment should be conducted and should be made available to
stakeholders and the public before conclusion of public consultation.
Senator Kerry O'Brien
Senator for Tasmania |
Senator Glenn Sterle
Senator for Western Australia |
Senator Anne McEwen
Senator for South Australia |
|
|
|
Senator Christine Milne
Senator for Tasmania |
Senator Rachel Siewert
Senator for Western Australia |
|
Navigation: Previous Page | Contents | Next Page