Queensland Government will force more councils to remove climate change references from plans, mayor warns

Extract from ABC News

By Chris O'Brien

Updated about an hour agoWed 10 Dec 2014, 5:26pm

 

Photo: Mayor Allan Sutherland, whose council was forced to remove any assumption about a "theoretical projected sea level rise" from its plan. (ABC News)

Map: QLD

The Queensland Government will force more councils to remove climate change references from their regional plans, the Moreton Bay Mayor has warned.

Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney ordered Moreton Bay Regional Council to remove any assumption about a "theoretical projected sea level rise" from its plan.
Mr Seeney said the reference to climate change would have restricted the right of residents to build and develop their properties.
Mayor Allan Sutherland said the edict meant his council would be out of step with Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and other councils that had incorporated the same assumption of a 0.8 metre sea level rise by 2100 into their plans.
"The Deputy Premier, I believe, will have to instruct those councils to remove it from their plans also," Cr Sutherland said.
"He hasn't just singled us out, he's taken to us with a baseball bat because there has been a lot political argument in the Bribie Island area."

Cr Sutherland said he told Mr Seeney the State Government had to direct the council to remove the sea level reference because if the council had done so voluntarily it could be legally liable.
"We will now remove it from our planning scheme because we've been requested to do so," he said.
"That shifts the responsibility from the council to the State Government.
"It will now be the State Government that will carry the liability into the future."
Labor's environment spokeswoman, Jackie Trad, said the edict was typical of the Newman Government.
"Consistently this Government has denied that climate change is happening and they have changed the laws in this state to ensure that there are no planning or water allocation or environmental protection policies that account for the effects of climate change," she said.
The Queensland Greens said science and the public interest had come off second best in the continuing fight between Mr Seeney and the observable reality of climate change.

'It's about protecting property rights'

Mr Seeney said his intervention in the Moreton Bay planning scheme was not about accepting or denying climate change.
He said the council's decision to include the 0.8-metre sea level rise had prompted complaints to council and the State Government, and angry public meetings.
"Local (LNP) member Lisa France was invited to attend these meetings and, on behalf of her constituents, brought the issue to my attention," he said.

 

Photo: Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney said his intervention had nothing to do with climate change denial. (AAP: Dave Hunt - file image)

Mr Seeney said it was about protecting property rights, not a climate change debate.
"It's not an issue for zealots to engage in the sort of emotive language that doesn't produce any sort of a reasonable outcome," he said.
"It's not a question of whether you're a believer or a denier, it's a question of responding appropriately to a risk that can't be quantified in any firm way, but we need to respond to the risk."
Mr Seeney said the reference to climate change would would impact of property owners' rights to develop.
"There's a big difference between planning for the future, planning future urban areas where you can take into account a whole range of different things, and using a planning scheme to retrospectively take away people's development rights," he said.
"And that's what the proposed planning scheme for Moreton Bay Regional Council did. That's why I stepped in."

Community groups 'not consulted by council'

Redcliffe community groups said they were not consulted when the council included sea level projections in its planning scheme.
Ken Park from Moreton Bay Communities Alliance said the regional plan was drafted with no input from local property owners.

"There was a lot of alarm and despondency because property values immediately fell, contracts [that had] been signed were cancelled, insurance premiums went through the roof and people perceived that their rights to develop their property further had been lost," he said.
"But their main objection was of course that they were never consulted about it."
Other councils - including Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Whitsundays and Townsville - had incorporated the same assumption of a 0.8-metre sea level rise by 2100 in their urban or regional plans.
The Local Government Association said it was seeking legal advice about the ramifications for all councils.

Spokesman Greg Hallam said he had also written to Mr Seeney.
"Some councils already have a 0.8-metre [rise] in their approved town plan, others are giving consideration to it," he said.
"So we just want to understand what the approach will be for all councils so that we can take the appropriate action.
"Our concerns have always been about councils' legal positions."