[Greens-Media] (Sylvia Hale MLC) Sartor Admits He Can’t Be Trusted

[Christopher Holley]

Sartor Admits He Can’t Be Trusted
 
 
Planning Minister Frank Sartor’s announcement today that he will
establish an External Advisory Panel to provide independent advice on
contentious private sector developments is an acknowledgement that the
public does not accept his assurances that political donations do not
affect his decisions, according to NSW Greens MP and Planning
Spokesperson Sylvia Hale. 
 
“The Minister knows he has lost public trust but he is unwilling to
take the steps necessary to fix the problem,” said Ms Hale.
 
“This panel fails to address the problem because the membership of
the panel and what matters are referred to it remain at the Minister’s
discretion and the Minister does not have to accept the panel's
advice.” 
 
"The Minister has shown in the past that he is willing to ignore
independent advice when he is considering a development application from
a Labor party donor. Why should we believe that he will pay any more
attention to this panel's advice?” Ms Hale asked.
 
“The only way to re-establish public trust is to completely remove
political donations from the planning system and to make the
Minister’s decisions subject to appeal to a Court on their merits.
The government can do these things immediately by voting in support of
my private members Bill that is currently before the parliament.” 
 
“There should also be a public inquiry into previous contentious
decisions by the Minister that have provided financial windfalls to
Labor donors,” Ms Hale said.
 

 Further information:Chris Holley on 02 9230 3030 or 0437 779 546