Question Without Notice No. 743 asked in the Legislative Council on 1 November 2017 by Hon Aaron Stonehouse
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
METROPOLITAN REGION SCHEME AMENDMENT 1280/41 — POINT PERON
743. Hon AARON STONEHOUSE to the minister representing the Minister for Planning:
I thank the minister for the replies I have received to questions without notice 433 and 718, both of which related to metropolitan region scheme amendment 1280/41 in favour of the Point Peron marina development.
(1) Is the minister aware of the contents of the annual report issued by Cedar Woods Properties Ltd on 6 October 2017?
(2) If yes to (1), can the minister explain how a private company with a strong financial interest in the outcome of the Western Australian Planning Commission process could be privy to sufficient—in the minister's own words, ''confidential''—information to be able to restructure its proposal, work up a new and detailed time line, and be in a position to provide that information to its shareholders four days before the information was available to the minister?
(3) If no to (1), will the minister commit to investigating this discrepancy in the provision of information?
(4) In light of what appears to have been a serious leak in the supposedly confidential planning process, will the minister reconsider her response yesterday, and table all correspondence since 23 August 2017 between her office, the WAPC and the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage to both LandCorp and Cedar Woods that relate to the proposed amendment?
Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1)–(3) It is unclear that the content of the annual report indicates that Cedar Woods has accessed the confidential information referred to in the answers to the member's previous questions. It is common for development companies to refer to their own anticipated time lines for the completion of planning processes.
(4) No; in accordance with standard practice, correspondence between the proponents and the minister's office, the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage and the Western Australian Planning Commission is not released.