{"id":12715,"date":"2018-01-23T11:09:37","date_gmt":"2018-01-23T11:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cultureheist.com.au\/?p=12715"},"modified":"2018-01-23T11:45:09","modified_gmt":"2018-01-23T11:45:09","slug":"planning-minister-in-spotlight-over-sydney-modern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/2018\/01\/23\/planning-minister-in-spotlight-over-sydney-modern\/","title":{"rendered":"Planning Minister in spotlight over Sydney Modern"},"content":{"rendered":"

NSW Planning Minister Anthony Roberts is caught in the spotlight over the mysterious process to provide approval for the $344 million Sydney Modern Project.<\/p>\n

Roberts, a spear carrier for the Liberal Party\u2019s right-wing faction, will be the sole arbiter of whether the Development Application (DA) is approved or not. There appears to be no plan to refer the DA to the Planning and Assessment Commission (PAC).<\/p>\n

So what will he do with the avalanche of objections to the Sydney Modern DA, reported here<\/strong> <\/a>on 14 January? Roberts is a veteran deal-maker for the NSW division of the Liberal Party and a long-time loyalist of John Howard and 2GB broadcaster Alan Jones.<\/p>\n

When the submissions were first made public I took at face value the following assertion on the Department of Planning website: \u201c\u2026if an SSD proposal is not supported by the relevant local council(s), or the Department has received more than 25 public objections <\/strong>[my emphasis], the Department\u2019s recommendation is referred to the independent Planning and Assessment Commission (PAC) for determination.\u201d<\/p>\n

With objections from the public standing at 178, and only 63 submissions supporting the DA, it seemed as though an independent review was inevitable. Now that is in serious doubt. The AGNSW is busy framing its response which will then go for review by a minister who has no experience of the museum sector and the complex issues at stake \u2013 issues which objectors with great professional expertise have spent many hours documenting. (Readers who haven\u2019t yet read them can find them on previous blogs.)<\/p>\n

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Arts Minister Don Harwin, right, with David Gonski<\/p><\/div>\n

Under Premier Gladys Berejiklian and her predecessor Mike Baird, it\u2019s been open slather for developers in NSW. There appears to be very little \u201cplan\u201d in Planning, and certainly there is no cultural plan. Minister Roberts has a track record of facilitating developers\u2019 projects and working closely with the big end of town, which happens to be well represented on the board of the AGNSW. His Cabinet colleague, Arts Minister Don Harwin, has already pronounced in favour of Sydney Modern but has refused to release the business plan which is central to any decision on its future, or to say how its operating costs would be met.<\/p>\n

Both Roberts (hard right) and Harwin (soft right) are major fundraisers for the Liberal Party. How this affects their decision-making is one of the unknowns in the State\u2019s nexus of power and money.<\/p>\n

Will Anthony Roberts listen to the overwhelming public objections \u2013 or will he concur with his Cabinet colleague, and brush them aside? If you have concerns about the process, you can contact the Planning Minister here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Planning and consultation NSW style<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The issue sheds light on the way the NSW government is shutting its citizens out of crucial planning decisions. The consultation process is also a prime example of governmental double-speak. Bear with me while I relate my attempt to find out what is going on.<\/p>\n

On 22 January, with no evidence that submissions on the DA had been referred to the PAC, I sent the following questions to the Department of Planning media unit:<\/p>\n