Elise Archer - Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

Libs call to tighten third party appeal rights

Monday, 05 December 2011 11:35 |

Written by Elise

In reference to the impending redevelopment of Parliament Square, the Liberals welcome the news that the development will finally proceed after an appeal against the project was rejected by the Tribunal.

It is vital that positive developments such as Parliament Square go ahead so that we can show investors that Tasmania is open for business.

The Liberals’ proposed planning reforms would ensure that frivolous third party appeals such as the one that has delayed the Parliament Square project not be allowed. We need to ensure that we are encouraging sensible development, not throwing up as many hurdles as possible.

Under the Green-Labor Government, projects will continue to be delayed and private investors will continue to be frightened off by needlessly complicated and outdated planning laws.

Regards
Elise Archer
Shadow Minister for Planning

Urgent planning reform needed to grow the economy

Wednesday, 30 November 2011 12:04 |

Written by Elise

In reference to Dr Julian Amos’ article (Mercury 30/11), he rightly states that Tasmania is falling behind the rest of the country in terms of planning reform.

For too long the Labor-Green government has had the ‘closed for business’ sign up, instead of working to grow the economy and attract much needed investment and development in Tasmania.

The Liberals have already announced that in Government we would implement a single statewide planning scheme for all development in Tasmania, including residential, commercial and industrial - instead of the current 36 planning schemes across 29 councils.

We believe that government should be doing everything it can to facilitate development and this includes streamlining the process for development applications, which at present is needlessly complicated.

This is about getting our planning priorities right, creating certainty for investors and the community, and re-booting the economy by making sure the planning system supports investment, rather than holding it back.

Regards

Elise Archer
Shadow Minister for Planning

RTIs are crucial to hold governments accountable

Wednesday, 06 July 2011 08:49 |

Written by Elise

The Premier’s assertion that the State Opposition should not be using the Right to Information (RTI) legislation shows how scared she is of the community getting access to information about how her Government operates.

RTIs are crucial to hold governments accountable – for example, in early 2010, RTI documents revealed that Aurora was in a dire financial position and predicted it would make a loss in the 2009-10 financial year (which ended up occurring). This prompted a significant debate on Aurora and power prices. It was also through RTI documents that we were able to prove that many Government departments were buying power from an interstate retailer, which started the debate about whether or not all Tasmanians should be able to choose from whom they buy their power – a key question in the current cost of living debate.

As for Ms Giddings’ claim about the cost of these RTIs - each government department already employs an RTI Officer to respond to RTI requests; would she prefer they were paid to do nothing?

Ms Giddings can complain all she likes, but I make no apology for doing my job.

Regards
Elise Archer MP
Liberal Member for Denison

Letter to Kingborough Chronicle - Cuts to police numbers in Kingston

Wednesday, 10 August 2011 11:33 |

Written by Elise

The State Government’s decision to axe a number of full-time uniform police at Kingston Police Station as a result of drastic budget cuts demonstrates its priorities are completely wrong and, as a result, Tasmanians will unfortunately suffer.

The cuts to frontline police officers represents the most serious threat to public safety that Tasmania has seen in many years, and will ensure a spike in crime.

The Kingston Police Station not only services the Kingborough region, but many surrounding areas from Taroona to Huonville, and cuts to police numbers will mean that the safety of every member of these communities will be put at risk at a time when the region is experiencing a 45 per cent increase in police call-outs.

Tasmania needs a strong police service to keep our streets safe and protect Tasmanians, and the simple fact is, we cannot afford to lose frontline police officers.

Not only do the cuts come on top of the cancellation of this year’s graduate police recruit course, but will guarantee that Tasmania’s streets are no longer safe.

It is time that Police Minister David O’Byrne came clean with Tasmanians and outlined exactly how he intends to find the savings required within the Police Department in this financial year alone, and which other rural and regional communities will lose officers or close their police stations as a result.

In contrast, the Liberals have outlined in our alternative budget the protection of frontline police jobs to keep the community safe by finding savings in other, non-frontline areas of government.

Regards
Elise Archer MP
Shadow Minister for Police

Much needed action on planning reform

Friday, 17 December 2010 11:43 |

Written by Elise

Planning Minister Bryan Green’s dismissal of calls by industry for urgent planning reform is extremely disappointing.

What makes this decision even more disappointing is the claim that further consultation is needed on how to reform single dwelling residential planning in Tasmania. Industry is in unanimous agreement and it is understood that stakeholders have seen and agreed to the draft uniform Statewide Residential Planning Code. For the Minister to now hide behind “further consultation” is nothing more than an excuse for inaction. There have been 6 significant reviews and inquiries in the last 10 years on planning reform.

What we need now is action, not more talk, and I call on Minister Green to act urgently and bring on this much needed reform.

Regards
Elise Archer MP
Shadow Minister for Planning

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