A MOTION in WA Parliament’s Upper House to knock out the Roe 8/9 scheme amendment was unsurprisingly voted down last week, but not before its mover, Greens MLC Brad Pettitt, got some spirited support from the Opposition.

Dr Pettitt voted against his own motion, but urged the Cook government to drill down into the planning of the former highway corridor to ensure a continuous green connection was created between the Beeliar Wetlands and the Indian Ocean.

He said about two-thirds of the land would be zoned urban under the proposed amendment, and only “small patches” set aside for regional park.

“That mans that, as of tomorrow, this land could be used for large-scale residential, commercial or industrial developments, because that is what is allowed under the broad urban zoning system in Western Australia.”

Dr Pettitt said he’d been urged by many community members to lodge the disallowance motion in September to “slow down” the amendment’s progress to avoid “open slather” for developers.

“I appreciate the argument that the planning for a green corridor and local parks sits at the next level down.

“Returning to where I started, we should have had a parallel planning process, or at least a concept plan, incorporating a green corridor at that stage rather than the plan that the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage gave us.

Fragmented

“The way it is currently designed is fragmented and does not allow the opportunity to have a continuous corridor that the community rightfully, and I think powerfully, has called for.”

Agriculture and food minister Jackie Jarvis responded by citing the Labor government’s commitment to removing Roe 8/9 as a road reserve and the inevitable structure plans to follow the amendment.

“An area identified as urban can ultimately be used for a multitude of uses such as residential, mixed-use, commercial, retail and… local open space,” Ms Jarvis said.

Mining and Pastoral MLC Neil Thomson took the opportunity to speak in favour of Dr Pettitt’s disallowance – but perhaps not in terms the Greens MP would have appreciated.

Describing the amendment as “planning vandalism”, Mr Thomson said he’d spoken against it previously.

“I said, ‘mark my words, we will end up with a major metropolitan region scheme amendment coming through the Parliament in order to use urbanisation to thwart any future government or Parliament of Western Australia making a decision to restore Roe 8 or Roe 9’,” Mr Thomson said.

“There is a reason why the Stevenson-Hepburn plan was put in place.

“The reason for preserving land for corridors is to remove traffic congestion in Western Australia in order to protect lives in Western Australia.

“We know that because of the failure to progress on Roe 8 and Roe 9 there continues to be serious traffic accidents on the congested roads in Western Australia, and now we are having to fast-track a Kwinana port.”

As a result of Dr Pettitt’s motion failing, the rezoning has now come into effect.

by STEVE GRANT