A New Port

Page 2 of 14 pages : significant questions (jump to page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14) :

“Albany has a tremendous port that the residents of Albany should be proud of. With proper planning of the port precinct and of surrounding land uses it can generate enormous wealth for the community and coexist with it. The concept of relocating the port is a distraction from the far more pressing task of ensuring that we get the land use planning, including that of transport corridors, right. The Albany Port Authority Board and I are working hard to see that happens.”

Brad Williamson, Chief Executive Officer, Albany Port Authority Statement : 10 Jun 2004

Western Australia’s “Local Government Minister Tom Stephens should step in and save the council and administration from further embarrassment. The handling of the extended trading (hours) debate was symptomatic of a council that was ‘stuffed’. It is in absolute disarray. And it is not only about trading hours but about council’s lack of direction or consistency on planning issues. The budget is another example of a council that doesn’t know what it is doing. The CEO has lost his handle on the situation and the mayor has lost the plot.”

Cr Paul Lionetti (Breaksea Ward), City of Albany Extract : AGS Weekender (Page 3), 5 Aug 2004

“Priority Projects - Third rail line into Albany Port to cater for exports such as new timber products and product from the proposed second woodchip facility.”

Bruce Manning, Chief Executive Officer, Great Southern Development Commission Statement : 8 Sep 2004

“Firstly, allegations involving the misconduct of public officers do not fall within our jurisdiction which only applies to matters of administration. It is our practice - and our obligation under the Corruption and Crime Commission Act 2003 - to refer such matters to the CCC which has absolute discretion to decide to investigate, or not to investigate, allegations which are drawn to its attention. Secondly, when the CCC was established, it was specifically excluded from our jurisdiction under Schedule 1 of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1971 which regulates our operations.”

Jane Burn, Assessments Team, Parliamentary Commissioner for Administrative Investigations Letter : 8 Nov 2004

“Under the (Albany Waterfront) plan the amount of short-term accommodation effectively doubled and the development shifted closer to the port, intensifying fears use of the port would be restricted. The City should have retained the original concept, rather than accept designs unveiled by Planning Minister Alannah MacTiernan. If the development went ahead, the future of the port could not be safeguarded and condemned what he said was a lack of industry consultation.”

Ian Peacock, Chairman APULG Extract : Albany Advertiser (Page 5), 18 Nov 2004

“The boat harbour needed to be built as soon as possible to allow development to progress on the foreshore. A gas pipeline would also be welcomed.”

Russell Harrison, Chairman Great Southern Development Commission Extract : Albany Advertiser (Page 3), 10 Feb 2005

“The city was looking forward to LandCorp presenting a financially feasible and workable design of the (Albany) waterfront when it released details of the development’s business study in March. When the release is made we would expect what is proposed is also fully-funded. Funding for the second stage (of the Albany Ring Road) was also vital to ease traffic and safety concerns on the Chester Pass Road and Albany Highway roundabout.”

Andrew Hammond, CEO, City of Albany Extract : Albany Advertiser (Page 3), 10 Feb 2005

“Defence has recently undertaken a strategic review of the long-term force disposition (location) of all major Defence bases. The primary focus of the review has been to develop a strategy to consolidate and better align Defence basing to economise on maintenance and operating costs, enhance retention of Australian Defence Force personnel, and to better support ADF capability. The main features of this strategy are fewer, larger, sustainable, functionally aligned, multi-user bases, clustered with industry, in locations that provide employment and educational opportunities for families. You may care to note that the Government has not taken any decision to vary the current use of RAAF Base Pearce and HMAS Stirling, or to establish additional bases in Albany or its surrounding region.”

Senator Robert Hill, Minister for Defence, Commonwealth of Australia Letter : 20 Apr 2005

“The development of a sustainability assessment tool is a joint project of the Western Australian Planning Commission and the Sustainability Roundtable’s Sustainable Building and Land Development Partnership Group. We believe that the discussion paper will be of great interest to all of those concerned about the impacts of growth and development.”

Jeremy Dawkins, Chairman, Western Australian Planning Commission Report : 7 Jun 2005

“Heavy freight road transport access, space for future development, and pollution would put Albany Port on a path to certain conflict with the community. A new deep water port is needed in Albany. It is not a matter of how much it will cost, but where. Once a port facility gets serious, as is proposed here, it won’t be able to live in its present position with a city like Albany.”

Wilson Tuckey MHR, Member for O’Connor Extract : AGS Weekender (Page 1), 7 Jul 2005

“Long term planning is an essential component of good governance …” and “Regional strategies such as Rainbow 2000 should receive the imprimatur of the Great Southern Development Commission and the Regional Minister (Hon. John Bowler MLA) before consideration by State Cabinet.”

Geoff Gallop, Premier, State Government of Western Australia Letter : 20 Jul 2005

“While I appreciate your concerns over Port access, it should be noted that the Government through the (Great Southern) Development Commission, Department of Planning and Infrastructure and a Senior Minister, Alannah MacTiernan, have consulted extensively on the Waterfront Development and access issues. While some of your points on Albany developments are interesting, they do not concur with the majority view of the community, City’s or indeed the State’s vision for the future of Albany.”

John Bowler, Minister for Local Government, Regional Development & Great Southern, WA Letter : 8 Sep 2005

“You are to be commended for the energy and enthusiasm you are directing towards the development of a regional strategy for the amalgamated Albany City Council and the lower Great Southern Region of Western Australia. It is important that regional economic development is initiated and driven by regional businesses and their communities and I wish you well in developing your proposal. As the issues you raised are principally matters for local and state governments to address, I would encourage you to continue to promote your views with them.”

Dr Peter Shergold, Dept of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Australian Government Letter : 10 Nov 2005

“The Albany Waterfront Project is a done deal.” Andrew Hammond, CEO, City of Albany ICCI Forum Albany : 12 Oct 2005

Lamenting WA’s reluctance to do things : “We have a Cinderella State mentality which has meant that grand is something that we don’t do in Perth.”

Janet Holmes-a-Court, Businesswoman CEDA Forum : 14 Dec 2005

“Government needed to become more transparent when it came to infrastructure decision making. I support the idea that the Productivity Commission perform periodic five-year reviews of infrastructure across Australia .”

John Langoulant, Chief Executive Officer, Chamber of Commerce & Industry WA CEDA Forum : 14 Dec 2005

“WA has been handicapped by a starving colony approach, thinking it could afford only the absolute necessities.”

Prof. Fred Affleck, Executive Director, Planning & Transport Research Centre, WA CEDA Forum : 14 Dec 2005

“In view of the searches and inquiries already made by the agency (DPI) and since there is nothing on the information before me to establish that any further documents exist or should exist, or any suggestion as to additional searches which could be made, I do not require the agency to make further searches or inquiries. I consider that the agency has now taken all reasonable steps to find the requested documents (the Comprehensive Technical & Financial Evaluation of Rainbow 2000 or an assessment of the need for Albany Port Relocation), but that those documents cannot be found or do not exist.”

Darryl Wookey, Acting Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner, WA Letter : 23 Jan 2006

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Albany, Western Australia