Ivan Dean, Speeches Index

Thursday 2 November 2006

DIRECT FACTORY OUTLETS

Mr DEAN (Windermere ) - This is an issue, Mr President, that I have become aware of over the last 12-month period because of some of the occurrences that have taken place in the north of the State with big box developments and on the development applications in relation to them.

I first commend the member for Rowallan for bringing this matter forward and giving us the opportunity to debate this very important issue. Mr President, when a community and its institutions lose the right to assess a major project that is going to have an enormous impact on our social and economic fabric, the situation speaks of failure, in my opinion. When executive government are compliant and act as facilitators and boosters for such a project, whose interest is it that they serve? I pose the question. Is it going too far to suggest that the direct factory outlet project at Cambridge has revealed that the sovereign self-governing powers that underpin this State of Tasmania are in disarray? I do not think so.

Here is a massive retail project. Some estimate it will be triple the size of the Hobart CBD and yet courtesy of a legal loophole it will escape scrutiny by local planning authorities. The prudent thing for the Tasmanian Government to have done when first it learned of the Austexx plan was to have moved heaven and earth.

Mr Aird - You can't change Federal Government law if they don't want to. I'd like to but I can't change Federal Government law.

Mrs Smith - You can, and I gave you an example yesterday.

Mr Aird - No, you can't, you need a planning law here.

Mr DEAN - A prudent thing for the Tasmanian Government to have done when first it learned of the Austexx plan was to have moved heaven and earth to plug the loophole so that at the very least this project would have faced the same scrutiny and the same gauntlet that other projects must run. Regrettably - and I am using that word quite frequently of late; I used it this morning in relation to another matter when we were discussing the TCC - the Government did no such thing. The public record shows that the Government in effect embraced the direct factory outlet scheme -

Mr Aird - That is not true. The Minister for Planning wrote to the Federal Government asking them to change the law and they haven't. We still have not heard back from them.

Mr DEAN - while pointing towards Canberra saying that the final responsibility for approval lay with the Federal ministers for Transport and the Environment . I guess I am lucky inasmuch as Hansard cannot see the indication that I have given but I have indicated to the north.

Ms Thorp - If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck.

Mr Aird - That's if it's not a dead parrot.

Mr DEAN - Having pointed a finger towards Canberra that is in fact, to me, a remarkable and quite incredible position to take because the normal situation, the usual course of events, indeed we can say the traditional obligation of a State government is to insist on the right of local regulators to run the ruler over significant projects proposed for development within their jurisdiction otherwise there can be no community input or indeed consent.

Let us take a look at the pulp mill. Quite rightly, the Government bent over backwards to avoid rubber-stamping this billion dollar project in the Tamar Valley.

Mr Parkinson - It wasn't able, it was a statutory path. It couldn't rubber-stamp it.

Mr DEAN - Rigorous assessment has been demanded; the developers are spending at least $12 million on the approval process.

Ms Thorp - Don't keep going, let us save you embarrassment here.

Mr DEAN - Government ministers have whetted themselves, in this case at least, for the view that a pulp mill will come into being on its merits or it will die. But the story is different for the giant retail project planned near Hobart airport. The legal loophole of Federal title seems to be sufficient merit.

Mr Parkinson - It's not a loophole, it's the law.

Ms Thorp - L-a-w - law.

Mr Parkinson - A planning law.

Mr DEAN - Tasmania's properly constituted planning regime is not required. The machinery and the agencies are there to do the scrutiny but they are idle because they are barred from having a say.

Mr Parkinson - You're being very parochial here; you're worrying about losing a few customers from Launceston.

Mr DEAN - I am and I am glad you raised that because very clearly if this project takes place -

Mr Aird - Are you worried about Launceston people coming down here to shop?

Mr DEAN - There will be people, if this project is to be successful -

Mr Aird - We don't mind our people going to York Park to watch a footy game.

Ms Thorp - We could put a big gate across the road at Campbell Town and say, 'You are not allowed south'.

Mr Aird - Yes, leave your credit card at home.

Mrs Rattray-Wagner - Southerners have trouble getting up to the north-west, you must admit.

Mr DEAN - It will require almost the whole population of Tasmania. The whole population of Tasmania will utilise this project.

Mr Aird - Isn't that shocking that the whole population are going have a choice where they shop?

Mr DEAN - It is when they drive away from their own stores, their own retail outlets and cause -

Mr Aird - So, exercise choice about where they shop?

Mr Parkinson - This was the argument with seven-day trading, exactly the same argument with fear of going somewhere else to shop.

Mr DEAN - It is interesting you should raise that because there are a number of people who went bust because of that.

Mr Parkinson - Very few and they were going bust anyway.

Mr DEAN - Quite a few.

Ms Thorp - Some of biggest opponents, like Hill Street Grocer, are now three times bigger and our biggest advocate.

Mr PRESIDENT - Order. The honourable member for Windermere is endeavouring to give an address and he should not be constantly heckled. The honourable member may proceed.

Mr Aird - That is true, Mr President, we are giving him a bit of a working over.

Mr DEAN - Thank you, Mr President.

Mr Aird - Mr President, can I just urge you to ask the honourable member not to be so provocative?

Mr PRESIDENT - The honourable member is entitled to deliver his speech in the way that he wishes.

Mr DEAN - I have obviously hit a raw nerve, Mr President. The Austexx directors doubtless view the absence of a process as a wonderful bonus, don't they? Any company would, by escaping the requirements of the local planning regime, accrue big savings in time and cash.

Ms Thorp - I wish Canberra would hurry up and answer. Next time you are talking to John Howard, get him to answer the letter.

Mr DEAN - The price of explanation and justification will go straight to the company's bottom line. How did this situation arise? I imagine that the Premier and his ministers - and I am surmising this happened - in the first instance when they became aware of the -

Mr Aird - How about you stick to the facts, rather than surmising? If you are going into the area of surmising it is not factual, is it?

Mr DEAN - I believe this is what happened.

Mr Aird - You believe. That is not factual.

Mr DEAN - But when they became aware of the Austexx plan, they followed convention and did what ministers normally do in a proper exercise of their authority. That is, the Government would have sought advice. I think that is reasonable, isn't it?

Mr Aird - The fact is, this is a private sector development. It has nothing to do with the Government.

Mr DEAN - I hope they did so. How interesting it would be if the Government provided a list of departments and authorities that it consulted and released, into the public domain, any advice it might have received from the public service.

Ms Thorp - There's a new fish and chip shop opening at Clifton. I hope every department of the Government is looking into that.

Mr DEAN - But such an exercise would probably be quite academic because the Austexx DFO group is so confident of the final outcome that, already, it is soliciting for tenants at Cambridge and has posted on its web site that the project will open to the public in 2008 - no ifs, no buts, no question marks.

Mr President, the news media has recently been full of reports predicting the Cambridge DFO will cut a swathe through Hobart's business community, dragging in retail business from all corners of the State. We have previously referred to that. The member moving the motion referred to that as well. If the Government believe it is not going to, I just wonder where they are getting their advice from, where they are getting their information from.

Ms Thorp - It is a private development - through you, Mr President. It has nothing to do with the Government.

Mr DEAN - The State Government has consistently said that the impact on the State is not going to be as significant as people believe it will be.

Ms Thorp - That is the opinion of the Government. It does not have anything to do with the Government in terms of these people getting permission to build. We cannot stop them, even if we wanted to.

Mr DEAN - If I am not mistaken, the Premier simply said it was another shop, or words to that effect. The Government have entered into the argument in a big way. The numbers suggest a looming human tragedy.

Ms Thorp - I am glad you are not being alarmist again. This is a bit like the levees up in Launceston.

Mr DEAN - Disruption for the many is guaranteed. There will be a terrible human cost in terms of lost jobs and loss of equity in established business ventures, and for the future beyond 2008 local capital for new local investment will decline because from that year a substantial percentage of retail profit in this State will belong to the giant interstate Austexx DFO program.

Ms Thorp - I am going to save Hansard from today.

Mr DEAN - You should probably read it and talk to your colleagues and convince them of the need to stand up and have some say in the development at Cambridge.

Ms Thorp - The State Government's position is that it should be assessed through the normal planning approval basis and they have written to Canberra and asked them to facilitate that. That is the position of the Government, to enable this to come under the full scrutiny that you are asking for.

Mr DEAN - Mr President, the Cambridge project is not merely breathtaking in size, it is breathtaking in daring because this plan is one hit. It will be a pre-emptive strike to snare as much as a third to a half of the Tasmanian retail dollar forever.

Mr Parkinson - Rubbish.

Mr DEAN - It will be in vain to hope that Virgin Blue and Qantas will be shuttling in extra shoppers because interstate shoppers already have direct factory outlets in Brisbane, Sydney, Cheltenham and at Essendon airports. They are not going to be bringing people in from the mainland to shop here.

Mr Parkinson - It will give people another alternative, a different variety of things to buy. A lot of the people who shop at Chickenfeed would like to go there.

Mr DEAN - It certainly will given them another option; it will give them another huge option. The unfortunate thing is that it is not a fair playing field because of the ability of an organisation such as that to bring in their products at a much much cheaper rate than any other retail outlet, I would suggest, in this State.

Mr Parkinson - People will have to incur travel costs to get there to shop and it is a lot fairer than it would be if it were stuck in the middle of Hobart.

Mr DEAN - Their ability to access -

Ms Thorp - It would be a shame for a Tasmanian to get a bargain, wouldn't it?

Mr DEAN - No, it is not. It is not a shame for people in Tasmania to get a bargain but you have to regard look after and protect what you already have to some degree. It is the same for any organisation and if you take local government, for instance, if they had no concern for any of the other businesses or outlets in their areas in identifying whether development should proceed I would suggest it would be a fairly ordinary situation.

Ms Thorp - If a particular type of business is an allowed use in the Launceston CBD, do you go for a walk and say, 'No, no we've already got three trouser shops. We're not allowing any more trouser shops'?

Mr Aird - What if David Jones were to open?

Mr DEAN - There is nothing wrong with competition on a level playing field.

Mr Parkinson - As long as it is Launceston.

Mrs Smith - If they are under the planning scheme, if they don't get it right or there are areas of discretion they go through the process, quote unquote.

Mr DEAN - Moreover, in about a month the network expands again. A new DFO will open in Melbourne's Spencer Street and after that Austexx has a grand roll- out strategy -

Ms Thorp - They are taking over the world.

Mr DEAN - for DFO mega-centres. This is what they have on their agenda: mega-centres in Canberra, Cairns, Townsville, Jindalee, Brisbane and Victoria's Avalon Airport as well as here in Tasmania at Cambridge.

Ms Thorp - Which is in the wonderful electorate of Rumney.

Mr DEAN - The unexpected might occur, Mr President. That is the Federal ministers for Transport and Environment may find grounds to rule against the project.

Mr Aird - So they will approve five others in Australia, mainland Australia, and not approve this one. On what basis?

Mr DEAN - I am beginning to wonder, Mr President, but -

Ms Thorp - I know. It's the orange-bellied parrot.

Mr DEAN - Mr President, I am beginning to wonder whether I should continue this speech or not.

Mr PRESIDENT - Order. I would appeal to honourable members to give the honourable member a fair chance to deliver his speech as he wishes to, and I ask that interjections be controlled.

Mr DEAN - Thank you Mr President. The Federal ministers for Transport and the Environment may find grounds to rule against the project. If not, Tasmania must brace itself to relearn the wisdom of why it is wise for local people to have a say through their local planning institutions when anybody plans a project like this in their midst.

In the north, and some would be aware of this, a development not dissimilar, albeit much smaller in size, to the Cambridge project has been a subject of long community debate. The Novak development application proposed for land near the Launceston airport was, however, subject to scrutiny by the Resource Planning and Development Commission. It went through the process. Honourable members will be aware, or they should be aware that the RPDC ruled against Novak. As I understand the current situation, the developer has indicated it will exercise its right to appeal against the RPDC decision, and I am not quite sure where that is at this time.
The decision was reached on a number of grounds and for a number of reasons, but in the main, as I understand it, it was felt that the impact that this development would have on the Launceston CBD as well as other significant shopping precincts in the north would be far too great.

The New Zealand experience, which has been covered by the honourable member for Rowallan, demonstrates that where these types of megastores have been developed outside of CBD locations and other shopping precincts, the effect on existing businesses has been devastating. That evidence is there and Launceston local government sent across to New Zealand some representatives of the council. The Chamber of Commerce were also included in that deputation, as was a reporter from the Examiner - just to look at the megastores and where they were being placed and to look at the result of those premises existing as against the current retail outlets in those areas and the CBDs in particular. They found almost right through the country that they impacted tremendously on CBDs and in some cases devastated them, and the member for Rowallan identified with that yesterday.

So there is a lot of evidence to show us this experience. One would think that we would be able to learn from experiences that occur. Some of those local government areas in New Zealand and the country have said that they would not, in hindsight, now allow that to occur. They would not do it. They have said that; they regret what they did. People have learned. Very clearly the position is that there should be support of these developments, and that was referred to by the previous speakers, but they ought to be close within proximity to current CBD and shopping centres. That way they should be able to exist and bring extra people into those shopping areas.

I have here a quote referring to New Zealand: 'Previously vibrant centres have become ghost centres.' I cannot help but think that if this was good for Tasmania we would have seen the economic impacts statement that was concluded - the assessment. I would have thought that it would have been released. In the Assembly yesterday there was a comment made in relation to this aspect by a member of the Greens. They are calling for the release of that report because very clearly if it was a good report and indicated that there would not be a disastrous impact on retail outlets and shopping within this State it would have been released. I would have thought it would have been released. So the only conclusion that I can really come to could be the wrong one but the only conclusion that I can really come to is that it is not a good report when one compares it with what could happen in this State in a negative sense.

Mr Parkinson - What report are you talking about?

Mr DEAN - This is the economic impacts statement that was done.

Mr Parkinson - Who commissioned it? Who was it for?

Mr DEAN - I do not know who did it, but the report was out there. It has been referred to. It has been commented on previously.

Mr Aird - Whose is it? Do you know whose it is? Do you think it is Austexx? Do you think it might be theirs?
Do you think it might be part of their business case to say what is going to happen to their business?

Mr DEAN - It may well be, but there has been a call for that organisation to release it.

Mr Aird - They can if they want to.

Mr DEAN - But they will not.

Mr Aird - I don't know, I haven't asked them.

Mr DEAN - I would have thought that the Government would be aware of the situation well and truly.

Mr Aird - It's not my business to.

Mr DEAN - I cannot help but think that that report would have been released into the public arena.

Mr President, I feel that this is a big issue and there are currently two further developments, nowhere near this size but megastores, being considered for the Launceston area right at this very moment and they are being considered for areas very close to the CBD which may well be supported at the end of a process. That is the place for them and that is where they should be. Here it is isolated. Cambridge is some distance from Hobart, some distance from Eastlands -

Ms Thorp - Fifteen minutes from the CBD by car.

Mr DEAN - The member has identified with what I have just said - some distance from the CBD and Eastlands.

Ms Thorp - Fifteen minutes from the GPO.

Mr DEAN - One can travel a long way in 15 minutes, Mr President.

Ms Thorp - It would take you longer to get out to Glenorchy than it would to get to Cambridge.

Mr DEAN - That is my contribution, Mr President, and I support the member's motion in regard to this matter.

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