Panning the Planned Planning Plan Panel

Hello world...greetings and salutations and welcome to the blog...apologies for late, disjointed post but I had to go out sort of...today I'm going to offer a critical review of the proposed changes to South Australia's planning system...which by definition infers that such a system already currently exists...(and it does, but not in the way you'd think-Ed)...indeed, so come with me as we Pan the Plan...

But first:  Electranet's Raine Korma is in the media talking about the report outcome that approves the approx $110million Interconnector refurbishment/expansion at Heywood, that has apparently passed the "economic test" that makes it more suitable than "a range of alternatives", and, according to Mr Korma will 'eventually' reduce electricity prices, etc. It's also apparently in today's The Advertiser and I'll cover it Tomorrow.

Also: The Ombudsman has responded to my letter re Mt Gambier City Council (previous post) with the indications being that the matter may be hand-balled across to the Independent Commission Against Corruption, but the 'review' of that decision will take some weeks...keep you posted...

Also: Two days out from the election, I have still not received any response from the Australian Electoral Commission re my two letters (previous posts) about the gross bias of Nominations Criteria and the election-focused 'Comments' left anonymously on this blog.

Either the AEC's Mt Gambier Returning Officer Jim Leane did not forward my complaints/letters, or the AEC accepts as fact and accepts as appropriate the bias I have identified, and supports the libellous slandering of potential candidates in the way that I have been anonymously attacked.
 
Excuse my cynicism and paranoia, but my experience of the institutionalised corruption of South Australia, that compromises literally everything that takes place in this state, then inevitably leaches into my every interaction, and I cannot believe that the Electoral processes in SA are somehow magically immune from this corruption.

I offer as justification of my cynicism the appointments of Labor hack Mia Handshin to the head of the Environment Protection Authority; of Grant King to both the Hospital Advisory Council and Regional Development Australia; and of course my favourite...(Tony-TH)...Tony...(nnnHarrison-TH)...Tony Harrison, former senior SAPol 'Child Protection' officer and recent appointee to the Head of the Education Department.

Ms Handshin and Mr...(nnnHarrison-TH)...Mr Harrison have no qualifications or experience in these fields that they now have absolute responsibility for, and clearly have been appointed on association not qualification...indeed Ms Handshin was appointed specifically to avoid 'Consultation Conventions' with experts in the field...'Conventions' that could be thus circumvented...(ignored-Ed)...by appointing someone with absolutely no experience...bizarre but true...  

And it is important that I 'own' my cynicism, etc, because I know nothing about Mr Leane and he has been described to me as a decent person, but it immediately concerns me when I see a former SA Police Officer in such a critical position...so I will contact Mr Leane and ask him to provide me copies of the emails or other proof that my letters were forwarded as he promised; "I'll pass them up the line"...  

And I am immediately very pleased that even as I type (earlier today), Mr Leane has returned my phone call of this morning and confirmed that he has forwarded my letters...thank you to Mr Leane on both counts...but I digress...

For some reason this critical 'Planning' article...(critical meaning important not denouncing-Ed)...which has been reported in The Advertiser, was buried on page 25 of The Border Watch Tuesday 3rd September 2013, and on the same page was the article referred to in previous post about Bushfire Risks to Mt Gambier.

Just an observation, but I do wonder why 2 such important articles would be placed so far back in the paper, after the Car section and amongst the classifieds.

The article is largely self-explanatory but there are 2 issues that I challenge.

Firstly: The specific observation that..."...the review would not assess individual policies or specific decisions..." is a fundamental mistake...(how so?-Ed)...I'm glad you asked...(well you asked me to-Ed)...shoosh...

If you don't review the faults and failings (and there have been plenty of both) of current criteria and/or laws, how can you appropriately modify current legislation, eg, the farcical Mt Barker land grab where the supposedly independent Rann/Weatherill Labor government advisor was/is the main developer of the project...seriously...

And when this was exposed, absolutely nothing happened...not from the government, the Mt Barker Council, not no-one...and the deal stands and hundreds of hectares of prime farmland are going under suburbs without appropriate infrastructure and/or transport plans, employment, etc...

And then when Labor 'Titaniced' their Ministers and John Rau became Planning Minister, one of the first sentences out of his mouth, literally, was 'Oh gee whiz, we got it wrong, how terrible but never mind, we won't make that mistake again.' (paraphrase but bloody close to a quote)...('Titaniced'?-Ed)...yes, shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic...(whaaa?-Ed)...constantly moving Ministers around portfolios to avoid responsibility, but the wreck is going down anyway...(ohhh, like the deckchairs on the Titanic-Ed)...exactly...

And of course there's the Cheltenham Race Course dodginess, the St Clair land swap issue, the Royal Adelaide Hospital relocation, the Adelaide Oval Development...and the biggest, bestest Planning issue that won't be reviewed...Wind Turbine placement...and not to forget the extraordinary bias and definable corruption of appropriate process re the Planning decisions made by the Labor government with the Penola Rd/Bunnings/Calula development issue that has so thoroughly rooted effective planning and development around Mt Gambier.

(And not forgetting the series of actions/decisions made by the Mt Gambier City Council in pursuit of their Rail Lands Retail Agenda, eg, the ghastly, expensive Main Corner project, the disastrous Bus Shelter, etc, decisions that are directly connected to the Penola Rd/Bunnings fiasco-Ed)...very well not forgotten...I also remind readers that the Labor government gazetted the re-zoning of the Rail Lands to Retail/Commercial in 2009 at the behest of City Council.

And that of course throws the spotlight onto the extraordinary conduct of the Grant District Council re the Penola Rd/Bunnings re-zoning issues.

Point Two: This entire Planning Review Plan therefore reeks of the same sort of reverse justification that defines the Mt Gambier Master Plan that was retrospectively introduced following the Penola Rd/Bunnings and Boundary Redistribution issues to attempt to make it all look a little less dodgy...and in that context is just another DeBelle Inquiry...(that's a bit of a leap isn't it?-Ed)...

Not at all...this 'Review' consigns to history all of the dodginess that it claims to be addressing and can and will be utilised in exactly the same way to deflect criticism and investigation with justifications along the lines of John Rau's statement...'oh yes there have been mistakes but don't look at resolving and repairing those mistakes, look at how we are dealing with it now and into the future with this wonderful review'...(go on then-Ed)...ta'...bollocks...

Cynic I may be, but this review is an absolute con and will achieve virtually nothing because all of the Planning decisions that can be made in SA have pretty much been made, and at every stage these decisions have favoured mates, colleagues, and supporters of the Labor government and/or local Councillors.

Tomorrow: The Heywood Interconnector

Guaranteeing massively expensive electricity for SA and relatively cheap power for the Eastern states, all payed for largely by SA consumers...and all the issues of transmission loss, Wind Turbine Development, etc...what an unfunny joke...

I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...if some of the issues discussed above seem a bit vague or confusing please review previous posts re those issues, eg, the Rail Lands Retail Agenda, the DeBelle Inquiry, etc...cheers y'all and laters...