“Having wasted over $350 million on the botched Metro project, incompetent Premier Keneally is considering introducing sweeping laws to allow the Government to compulsorily acquire private homes and hand them to developers,” he said.
The NSW Liberals/Nationals under Barry O'Farrell strongly oppose this move.
Shadow Minister for Planning, Brad Hazzard said, “This is Soviet-style command and control – by an incompetent, inexperienced and dithering State Labor Government.”
“The government is engendering fear among people like Mrs Anne Samuel. She recently approached my office, fearful that her Lindfield property would be compulsorily acquired, having being identified by a previous Planning Minister as a development site”, Mr O’Dea said.
“Planning Minister Tony Kelly's statement in Parliament during the week that Labor ‘will ensure that any extension to current acquisition powers will involve appropriate guidelines, appropriate safeguards, appropriate rules and appropriate compensation’ is of little consolation to homeowners like Mrs Samuel.
“When asked directly in Parliament, Premier Keneally did not deny that the proposal was under consideration, just not policy (yet). It must never be!
“Premier Keneally has also flagged the continuation of extraordinary powers that steamroll local councils and communities in order to ensure developments proceed, despite promising in NSW Parliament they would apply only for infrastructure projects under the Commonwealth Nation Building and Jobs Plan,” Mr O’Dea said.
“The proposal floated by Labor would mean that nobody’s home would be totally safe from compulsory acquisition. It is un-Australian.
“The NSW Liberals and Nationals will continue to fight for the right of people to own private property without being threatened by this socialist NSW Labor Government”, Mr O’Dea concluded.
