Toondah Harbour PDA ‘conning’ the community

The community has been regularly mislead or ‘conned’ about the Toondah Harbour Priority Development Area over the past five years according to local residents at a forum held in Cleveland recently.

Over 80 people recently considered “Has the community been conned about the Toondah PDA?” at a public forum organised by Redlands2030. A con is “a circumstance or situation in which someone purposefully or inadvertently misleads you”. In other words, they paint you a pretty picture and overlook the reality of the situation.

A selection of public announcements used regularly by some local politicians to promote the Toondah PDA were tested against the community’s knowledge and experience and over 90% of people at the forum agreed the Toondah Harbour PDA is a con!

What are the Toondah cons?

Dozens of potential Toondah cons were considered!  Six options were discussed and each speaker was asked:

1. What the community was told; when, by whom and how and what else had been said or written in support?
2. What has occurred to date, including any subsequent advice to community?
3. What can be expected to happen in the future should the project go ahead?

In each case, forum attendees decided if the community has been conned.

1. Fast-tracked port renovation (98% strongly agreed that the promised fast track upgrading was a con)
2. Planning! (96% strongly agreed that the planning in 2013/4 was a con (noting the problems remain)
3. No cost to ratepayers (92% strongly agreed that this assertion is a con)
4. Free public infrastructure (88% strongly agreed that promises of free public infrastructure was a con
5. Community consultation (98% strongly agreed that claims of extensive public consultation was a con)
6. Jobs, jobs, jobs (96% strongly agreed that the long term job yield (500) will go nowhere near meeting the jobs required by number of residents planned to live in the PDA)

Are there other Toondah cons?

Yes! The forum attendees discussed myriad other Toondah cons, and there were calls  for another forum to consider matters like:

• Port upgrade (or is it a real estate development)?
• Testing “The Science” in the development assessment (to cover up confused and flawed planning)
• Commercial in Confidence (an excuse for secrecy)
• Artist’s Impressions (so many are not fit for purpose)
• Publicity and propaganda (instead of science and objective narratives)
• Construction impacts (skipped over despite being significant and enduring)
• A gateway to Straddie ( really congestion with 30,000 cars/day)
• Parking for ferry users (no plans for construction)
• More greenspace (there will be significantly less greenspace after the development)
• Koala friendly design (urban areas and urban activity kills koalas)

Preparing for a possible Toondah EIS

Residents were alerted to the potential for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIS) process.  If this metthod of assessment is approved by the Federal Government, it will commence at a time to be decided by Walker Group in conjunction with the State and Commonwealth governments.  Terms of Reference for the EIS would be consulted with the community for 10 days.  Some people felt this timeframe would be another attempt to con Redlanders about the Toondah PDA.

Having  alerted people to timeframes for consultation the issues that might concern residents were discussed.  In only a few minutes almost 200 issues of concern were recorded and will form the basis of comments on draft Terms of Reference, if they are issued.

Not surprisingly, there were requests for another forum to more fully develop input to any EIS terms of reference.

The anticipated complexity of the Toondah development application and its environmental assessment together combined with likely condensed timeframes would make it difficult for the community to participate.  This obvious constraint is overlooked among the claims by Council and the State Government that there will be plenty of time for further public consultation.  Is this public consultation another Toondah con?

There are suggestions that a Toondah EIS process could involve dozens of technical reports and thousands of pages by expert consultants (employed by the proponent), advertised so the community can make comment. The size and even readability of like documents on similar projects defies the capacity of community members and volunteers.

Further it is normally the role of the State and Council to assess and make comments on draft EIS documents (in the public interest).  In the PDA process the assessment by officers of Council and State agencies are compromised because their employing organisations are on record as proponents of the Toondah development.  How can the public have faith that their concerns and the public interest will be properly weighed in the assessment process? Sadly, the role of normally accepted independent arbiter has been compromised and as yet there has been no discussion about the Government trying to resolve this dilemma.

Residents must get involved

Clearly, some local politicians need to hear more community angst about the Toondah Harbour PDA.  Actions discussed included:  

• Expressing concerns directly to councillors, and members of parliament
• Letters to the Redland City Bulletin and Redlands2030, and comments on talkback radio
• Petitions, rallies and protests
• Seek information from Council & Government, especially the things they don’t want people to know about
• Read and comment on any TOR (Terms of Reference) and EIS (Environmental Impact Statement)

Join the Toondah Action Group

Opportunities and tools for lobbying councillors, State and Federal members were canvassed.

This morning a number of local residents demonstrated their feelings about the Toondah project at G.J. Walter Park.

The message was ‘Give Walkers the Boot’.

People concerned about the prospect of a massive residential development on wetlands next to Toondah Harbour should join the Toondah Action Group.

This can be done by sending contact details to either: toondahfriends@gmail.com or toondah@redlands2030.net . Concrete actions can also be following the Facebook page Redlands2030,  ToondahFriends or Save our Bay-Toondah Harbour 

Write to the Premier

After the forum fifty people took immediate action to remind the Premier that Toondah is a con. They signed letters to the Premier calling on her immediate action to stop the con.

The letter is published below for others to use or amend as they see fit, it can be posted or emailed to thepremier@premiers.qld.gov.au .

Annastacia Palaszczuk
Premier of Queensland
Member for Inala

PO Box 15185
City East
Queensland 4002

thepremier@premiers.qld.gov.au

Dear Premier

I am very concerned at scale, location and potential impacts of the massive residential development known as the Toondah Harbour Priority Development Area (PDA).

I accept that the former Newman Government instigated the PDA legislation, but your Government has facilitated a massive (450%) increase in the scale of the proposed residential component at Toondah. There are now plans for 3600 apartments to be constructed on land to be reclaimed in Moreton Bay. These intentions, if not curtailed,  make a mockery of your Government’s commitments ramsar wetlands and the standing of Moreton Bay Marine Park and the SEQ Regional Plan.

Overall I am very concerned that the community has been deliberately or inadvertently misled over key aspects of the PDA.  My concerns are exacerbated when the Redland City Council claims so much of the detail is under cover of commercial-in-confidence arrangements. This keeps detail of the planning, development and financial arrangements from any public scrutiny.  It is understood these arrangements extend to prevent sitting Councillors from speaking publicly about the development arrangements and even the secrecy agreements, that they have signed.   Sadly the public interest seems to be overridden by these in confidence arrangements.

You have already demonstrated a willingness to act to end the legacy the PDA arrangements on the Gold Coast. The Redlands community deserves to be treated in the same manner and with the same respect.

The Gold Coast approach seems appropriate to allow a community led master planning process to be established.  An alternative might be a independent but forensic audit of the planning arrangements and commercial arrangements that seem to underpin the Toondah Harbour PDA. 

Premier, your Governments credibility and probably its integrity is at risk because of the way the Toondah PDA has been managed.

I look forward to your response.

 

…………………………………………

Name

…………………………………………………………………

Address

 

Note: Please send a copy of any response from the Premier to Redlands2030 at  thereporter@redlands2030.net

 

Redlands2030 – 20 May 2018

Update: this post was updated at 6:50 pm to clarify that the use of an EIS process for Walker Group’s proposed development at Toondah Harbour  has not yet been approved by the Federal Government.