All Marshall’s asking is for a little Respect
Steven Marshall has accused the Weatherill Government of being “disrespectful” to his Liberal Opposition by delaying a detailed briefing on contentious planning reforms set to come before parliament.
Marshall told InDaily he met with Planning Minister John Rau in November “and told him we want to work positively with the Government regarding these plans”.
“It’s a big reform, and it’s long overdue (but) it’s going to be contentious,” Marshall said.
“The (changes) require significant consultation and the sooner we work on these things the better…Here we are in the middle of February and we still haven’t had a detailed briefing.”
He said the Opposition hadn’t been told if the reform would involve a new or amended bill, or even when it would come before parliament.
“We’ve got no indication – it’s just disrespectful,” he said.
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“It just seems incredible, when they know they don’t have the numbers in the Legislative Council and they’re going to have to work with the Opposition and crossbenchers … The earlier they can bring us in the better – it’s very disappointing.”
Marshall insists he has “established my credibility in this area” by “working positively with the Government” on Labor’s WorkCover reforms, Return To Work.
Rau even thanked Marshall and the Opposition in parliament “for the very constructive way in which you have engaged on this very important project”.
“We’re not an obstructionist Opposition; generally speaking on reform issues, we’re a very positive Opposition,” Marshall insists.
“This year we need to work in a bipartisan way – we proved that with Return to Work — and there are big reforms ahead on planning and tax.”
He said the planning changes required a “sophisticated public debate” to establish a model that would “preserve amenity while not stifling economic activity”.
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Rau said in a statement the Government was still “considering” a recent review into planning led by Brian Hayes QC, which recommended a raft of changes.
“The Government is in the process of formulating a response,” he said.
“Once this has been done I would be happy to brief the Opposition.”
Rau said the Government’s response would be finalised “soon”.
His office told InDaily the Opposition was briefed on the Hayes Review upon its release last year, though Marshall dismissed that as a “half-hour briefing to parliament”.
He said it would take months of work with limited resources to balance stakeholders’ interests in the legislation and “the sooner they bring the Opposition in, the better”.
“We don’t even know the mechanics of what’s going to happen, and they’re not responding to our request for a detailed briefing … I just think they’re being disrespectful to the Opposition,” he said.
In September last year the Opposition and Upper House crossbenchers called for changes to parliamentary rules, claiming the Government was stifling debate and not treating them or the parliament with respect.
The Premier also flagged procedural changes in the Governor’s speech to re-open parliament a fortnight ago. These included the introduction of “deadlock reform, which will involve new options to resolve disputes between both Houses” and exploring “new mechanisms by which everyday people can become involved in the debates of the Parliament through the use of Information and Communication Technology”.
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