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Two senior government ministers are privately furious about plans to build hundreds of new homes in Sydney bushland, setting up a fresh political battleground for independents seeking to win the Liberals’ heartland northern beaches seats in the March state election.
As the Coalition prepares to campaign on its environmental credentials to stave off the “teal” threat in next year’s poll, a growing stoush over plans to clear bushland and build 450 homes at Lizard Rock in Belrose, progressed under new planning rules championed by Planning Minister Anthony Roberts, will give local fuel to an independent campaign.
Local residents Nicole Romain (right) and Thea Harris (left) are opposed to plans to build hundreds of homes in bushland at Belrose.Credit:Wolter Peeters
Local MPs, residents and some local councillors are opposed to the development, saying it will threaten endangered plants and animals, strain local infrastructure and create bushfire risks.
But the push has come from the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, which owns the 71-hectare site, and also wants to build a community cultural centre, recreation facilities and neighbourhood shops.
The project is one of the first under new rules that allow some projects on Indigenous-owned land to bypass local council approval. Land Council chief executive Nathan Moran said he was “grateful for the leadership of Minister Roberts and the support of the Department of Planning and Environment” in developing the proposal.
But outgoing senior ministers Rob Stokes and Brad Hazzard, whose electorates border the site, are strongly opposed to the proposal, as is the Liberal MP for Davidson and Speaker of the NSW Legislative Assembly, Jonathan O’Dea. Environment Minister James Griffin, who is being targeted in nearby Manly by teal opponent Joeline Hackman has also raised concerns.
O’Dea said the land council had the same rights as any property owner to maximise value on their land and he supported the idea of a cultural centre. “However, any development should align with state, regional and local strategies and policies for housing and infrastructure,” he said.
“That number of dwellings is far in excess of any need predicted by any of the relevant authorities, and there is insufficient infrastructure and services to support that scale of new housing. Other serious concerns relate to the potential for serious environmental damage and disruption of established wildlife corridors, and the extreme bushfire danger.”
Northern Beaches Council this week voted to make a submission to the Planning Department objecting to the redevelopment. Mayor Michael Regan is widely tipped to run as an independent candidate against the government in Wakehurst, where Hazzard is retiring.
Rock engravings at Lizard Rock are “regularly and repeatedly destroyed by vandals” and a significant portion of the site suffers from land degradation.Credit:Wolter Peeters
Regan said he was worried safe Liberal seats were being “taken advantage of”. “[This has been] bulldozed through against the local MPs’ wishes,” he said.
“When you clear 45-plus football fields of land and put hard urban infrastructure in the path of bushfires, nothing makes sense. That land is bordered by [three] safe Liberal seats; they’ve kicked an own goal in that regard.”
Independents Zali Steggall and Sophie Scamps won northern beaches seats while campaigning on the environment at this year’s federal election and Scamps, the federal Mackellar MP, said she had met with Roberts to voice widespread community opposition to the proposal.
“The current plan for the Lizard Rock site would result in the destruction of our local environment, the loss of endangered wildlife, an increase in congestion and would only exacerbate problems around access to services for locals and is not sustainable on any measure,” she said.
Scamps supports turning the site into a national park, which she said was “first proposed in 2013 by the [Land Council] itself”.
But Moran said it was a landmark opportunity to utilise land returned under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act to achieve self-determination and generate economic, social and cultural benefits for its members.
Moran said the council had continually raised objections to the proposal even before properly considering expert reports. “We are becoming increasingly concerned with the language being adopted by some of the elected council officials at the council meeting on Tuesday night,” he said.
Independent councillor Vincent De Luca said some opposition to the planning proposal was condescending and “could also be perceived as prejudice and discrimination”.
“Suggestions [Aboriginal people] should be dictated to by privileged northern beaches residents and let their land be turned into a national park is ridiculous.
“Would those people who are making such demands be prepared to have someone tell them to give away or sell their properties? I think not.”
A planning department spokesperson said the proposal was not yet approved. “[The department] is currently preparing a report on the proposal for independent review by the Sydney North Strategic Planning Panel next month,” they said. That report would include comments from the Northern Beaches Council.
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