Today’s planning announcement from Minister Felix Ellis is little more than a thought-bubble attempt to distract from the Liberals’ 10 plus years of planning failures.

Since Jeremy Rockliff lost control of the parliament and started governing in minority, there has been a huge slow-down in construction, with major projects held up by red-tape and government incompetence, and dwelling approvals stuck in the mud.

Minister Ellis’s thought bubble is a carbon copy of the Liberals’ policy from 11 years ago that they didn’t implement after receiving advice from the Department of Premier and Cabinet as late as September last year that the “scale of the problem created by third-party appeal at that time was not evident in the data.”

It’s been close to 10 years since the Liberals promised to make planning fairer, faster, cheaper, and simpler with a singular statewide scheme. But as usual they’ve been all talk and no action, with the system becoming more complicated, inefficient, and out of touch with the needs of Tasmanians.

The planning system is broken in Tasmania because the Liberals have been asleep at the wheel for too long. It needs real reform and solutions, not patch-jobs to cover up for a decade of neglect.

Shane Broad MP
Shadow Minister for Housing
Shadow Minister for Planning
Shadow Minister for Building & Construction