| |
|
|
|
Media Release - Minister's Office Sydney: 9 September 2009 UPPER HOUSE INQUIRY INTO FORMER CSIRO SITE AT BADGERYS CREEK Planning Minister, Kristina Keneally, today said she hoped the Legislative Council inquiry into planning decisions relating to former CSIRO land in Badgerys Creek would ask her to appear. “I hope the Committee asks me to give evidence about a man I’ve never heard of, allegedly extorting people I’ve never met with, about land the Government did not rezone – land, in fact, that the planning Department’s Director-General declined to declare state significant in 2008,” Ms Keneally said. Ms Keneally said that if the NSW Opposition had undertaken even the simplest form of fact-checking, they would know that the status of this land had not changed in years. “The fact is that Barry O’Farrell rushed out in breathless excitement following unsubstantiated allegations to declare that land had been rezoned, and thus an inquiry was needed,” Ms Keneally said. On Monday this week, Mr O’Farrell told 2BL radio: “Land in western Sydney was rezoned, resulting in a massive multimillion-dollar windfall for one of the developers.” “In fact, this land was not rezoned. In fact, the Government declined a request in 2008 to declare this land a state significant site,” Ms Keneally said. “If you are sloppy in small things, then you will be sloppy in big things too. “Had Mr O’Farrell simply checked the status of the land, he wouldn’t have made the sloppy mistake of committing himself to an upper house inquiry into land that has not changed in status for years.” Ms Keneally said it is unfortunate that taxpayers would now pay for Mr O’Farrell’s sloppiness. “The fact is an inquiry like this costs time and money,” Ms Keneally said. “While the Government does not support an inquiry into land that was never rezoned, nonetheless we will participate now that its scope includes all NSW MPs from all political parties.” Ms Keneally again stated the facts on the former CSIRO site at Badgerys Creek. • In early 2007, the NSW Government released an Action Plan for Sydney’s employment lands, as recommended by an Employment Lands Task Force. • This investigated large tracts of land for employment uses in Western Sydney. The former CSIRO site was included in this investigation area. • Separate to this process the Planning Department received, and in 2008 declined, a request that the former CSIRO be considered for listing as a State Significant Site. • It was decided that the CSIRO site should not be considered in isolation of a strategic planning framework for the broader plans for employment land. • The Government’s employment land investigation resulted in last month’s announcement that 800 hectares of land in the Western Sydney Employment Area will be rezoned, delivering 16,500 jobs. This did not include the former CSIRO site, as it had significant infrastructure constraints. • The former CSIRO site remains zoned rural, as it has been for a number of years.
|