❓ MP Whitely questions the decision to reject the Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale's town planning scheme amendment for Mundijong, alleging potential conflict of interest due to a former minister's reliance on advice from an MP with shares in a relevant mining company.
AnsweredQoN 432Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
I have previously raised with the minister concerns about the previous Government’s decision to reject the town planning scheme amendment put forward by the Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale for the Mundijong town site. Is the minister in a position to confirm the concerns I have raised about the process used to arrive at the decision? Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for some notice of this question. The member has been a strong advocate for the Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale, which has been very concerned about the way in which it has been treated in this matter. The issue centres around a desire by the shire to expand the town site at Mundijong and to act in a way that is consistent with the metropolitan region scheme, as required by law. A change to the metropolitan region scheme zoned the area urban. That required the shire to rezone the land through a town planning scheme. It did what was required and obtained approval to advertise its town planning scheme and had all stages ticked off by the Western Australian Planning Commission. It was referred to the then Minister for Planning, Graham Kierath, who knocked back the plan. As the member knows, I took up the matter in the Parliament with the then Minister for Planning. The minister explained that the reason that he did not allow the shire to meet its legal obligations was because valuable mineral sands were in the area. That was notwithstanding the fact that the Mining Warden had already dealt with the matter and said that the crucial part of the area should not be mined under any circumstances. The then minister said he had received very significant and crucial advice in making his decision. The advice came from none other than the member for Vasse. The Hansard of 14 September 2000 states - . . . I think the member for Vasse indicated to me that in the ground it is worth about $500m, but with value adding to synthetic rutile it will be worth in the order of $6b. That was no slip of the tongue because the then minister subsequently wrote to the Serpentine-Jarrahdale Residents and Ratepayers Association to confirm the advice received from his colleague, the member for Vasse, as follows - My reference to value was based on my recollection of advice received from my colleague Mr Bernie Masters MLA, member for Vasse, who has extensive involvement in the sand mining industry and who suggested that in the ground the value was about $500 million, but with value adding it could be worth about $6 billion. Graham Kierath was correct in saying that the member for Vasse was in a position to know. Following the concerns raised with me by the member for Roleystone, we have checked the records and, sure enough, at that crucial time the member for Vasse was a shareholder of Iluka Resources Ltd, the applicant for the resource. It gives a certain edge to the debate I had with Graham Kierath during which the member for Vasse yelled in support of the then minister, “It is a win-win situation.” Shades of Bob Bloffwitch! It is of concern that a very important decision like that appeared, on the evidence of Graham Kierath himself, to have been at least influenced by the representations of a member of Parliament who was a shareholder of the company that would benefit very significantly from that decision.
Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. The member has been a strong advocate for the Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale, which has been very concerned about the way in which it has been treated in this matter. The issue centres around a desire by the shire to expand the town site at Mundijong and to act in a way that is consistent with the metropolitan region scheme, as required by law. A change to the metropolitan region scheme zoned the area urban. That required the shire to rezone the land through a town planning scheme. It did what was required and obtained approval to advertise its town planning scheme and had all stages ticked off by the Western Australian Planning Commission. It was referred to the then Minister for Planning, Graham Kierath, who knocked back the plan. As the member knows, I took up the matter in the Parliament with the then Minister for Planning. The minister explained that the reason that he did not allow the shire to meet its legal obligations was because valuable mineral sands were in the area. That was notwithstanding the fact that the Mining Warden had already dealt with the matter and said that the crucial part of the area should not be mined under any circumstances. The then minister said he had received very significant and crucial advice in making his decision. The advice came from none other than the member for Vasse. The Hansard of 14 September 2000 states - . . . I think the member for Vasse indicated to me that in the ground it is worth about $500m, but with value adding to synthetic rutile it will be worth in the order of $6b. That was no slip of the tongue because the then minister subsequently wrote to the Serpentine-Jarrahdale Residents and Ratepayers Association to confirm the advice received from his colleague, the member for Vasse, as follows - My reference to value was based on my recollection of advice received from my colleague Mr Bernie Masters MLA, member for Vasse, who has extensive involvement in the sand mining industry and who suggested that in the ground the value was about $500 million, but with value adding it could be worth about $6 billion. Graham Kierath was correct in saying that the member for Vasse was in a position to know. Following the concerns raised with me by the member for Roleystone, we have checked the records and, sure enough, at that crucial time the member for Vasse was a shareholder of Iluka Resources Ltd, the applicant for the resource. It gives a certain edge to the debate I had with Graham Kierath during which the member for Vasse yelled in support of the then minister, “It is a win-win situation.” Shades of Bob Bloffwitch! It is of concern that a very important decision like that appeared, on the evidence of Graham Kierath himself, to have been at least influenced by the representations of a member of Parliament who was a shareholder of the company that would benefit very significantly from that decision.
I thank the member for some notice of this question. The member has been a strong advocate for the Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale, which has been very concerned about the way in which it has been treated in this matter. The issue centres around a desire by the shire to expand the town site at Mundijong and to act in a way that is consistent with the metropolitan region scheme, as required by law. A change to the metropolitan region scheme zoned the area urban. That required the shire to rezone the land through a town planning scheme. It did what was required and obtained approval to advertise its town planning scheme and had all stages ticked off by the Western Australian Planning Commission. It was referred to the then Minister for Planning, Graham Kierath, who knocked back the plan. As the member knows, I took up the matter in the Parliament with the then Minister for Planning. The minister explained that the reason that he did not allow the shire to meet its legal obligations was because valuable mineral sands were in the area. That was notwithstanding the fact that the Mining Warden had already dealt with the matter and said that the crucial part of the area should not be mined under any circumstances. The then minister said he had received very significant and crucial advice in making his decision. The advice came from none other than the member for Vasse. The Hansard of 14 September 2000 states - . . . I think the member for Vasse indicated to me that in the ground it is worth about $500m, but with value adding to synthetic rutile it will be worth in the order of $6b. That was no slip of the tongue because the then minister subsequently wrote to the Serpentine-Jarrahdale Residents and Ratepayers Association to confirm the advice received from his colleague, the member for Vasse, as follows - My reference to value was based on my recollection of advice received from my colleague Mr Bernie Masters MLA, member for Vasse, who has extensive involvement in the sand mining industry and who suggested that in the ground the value was about $500 million, but with value adding it could be worth about $6 billion. Graham Kierath was correct in saying that the member for Vasse was in a position to know. Following the concerns raised with me by the member for Roleystone, we have checked the records and, sure enough, at that crucial time the member for Vasse was a shareholder of Iluka Resources Ltd, the applicant for the resource. It gives a certain edge to the debate I had with Graham Kierath during which the member for Vasse yelled in support of the then minister, “It is a win-win situation.” Shades of Bob Bloffwitch! It is of concern that a very important decision like that appeared, on the evidence of Graham Kierath himself, to have been at least influenced by the representations of a member of Parliament who was a shareholder of the company that would benefit very significantly from that decision.
Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. The member has been a strong advocate for the Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale, which has been very concerned about the way in which it has been treated in this matter. The issue centres around a desire by the shire to expand the town site at Mundijong and to act in a way that is consistent with the metropolitan region scheme, as required by law. A change to the metropolitan region scheme zoned the area urban. That required the shire to rezone the land through a town planning scheme. It did what was required and obtained approval to advertise its town planning scheme and had all stages ticked off by the Western Australian Planning Commission. It was referred to the then Minister for Planning, Graham Kierath, who knocked back the plan. As the member knows, I took up the matter in the Parliament with the then Minister for Planning. The minister explained that the reason that he did not allow the shire to meet its legal obligations was because valuable mineral sands were in the area. That was notwithstanding the fact that the Mining Warden had already dealt with the matter and said that the crucial part of the area should not be mined under any circumstances. The then minister said he had received very significant and crucial advice in making his decision. The advice came from none other than the member for Vasse. The Hansard of 14 September 2000 states - . . . I think the member for Vasse indicated to me that in the ground it is worth about $500m, but with value adding to synthetic rutile it will be worth in the order of $6b. That was no slip of the tongue because the then minister subsequently wrote to the Serpentine-Jarrahdale Residents and Ratepayers Association to confirm the advice received from his colleague, the member for Vasse, as follows - My reference to value was based on my recollection of advice received from my colleague Mr Bernie Masters MLA, member for Vasse, who has extensive involvement in the sand mining industry and who suggested that in the ground the value was about $500 million, but with value adding it could be worth about $6 billion. Graham Kierath was correct in saying that the member for Vasse was in a position to know. Following the concerns raised with me by the member for Roleystone, we have checked the records and, sure enough, at that crucial time the member for Vasse was a shareholder of Iluka Resources Ltd, the applicant for the resource. It gives a certain edge to the debate I had with Graham Kierath during which the member for Vasse yelled in support of the then minister, “It is a win-win situation.” Shades of Bob Bloffwitch! It is of concern that a very important decision like that appeared, on the evidence of Graham Kierath himself, to have been at least influenced by the representations of a member of Parliament who was a shareholder of the company that would benefit very significantly from that decision.
I thank the member for some notice of this question. The member has been a strong advocate for the Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale, which has been very concerned about the way in which it has been treated in this matter. The issue centres around a desire by the shire to expand the town site at Mundijong and to act in a way that is consistent with the metropolitan region scheme, as required by law. A change to the metropolitan region scheme zoned the area urban. That required the shire to rezone the land through a town planning scheme. It did what was required and obtained approval to advertise its town planning scheme and had all stages ticked off by the Western Australian Planning Commission. It was referred to the then Minister for Planning, Graham Kierath, who knocked back the plan. As the member knows, I took up the matter in the Parliament with the then Minister for Planning. The minister explained that the reason that he did not allow the shire to meet its legal obligations was because valuable mineral sands were in the area. That was notwithstanding the fact that the Mining Warden had already dealt with the matter and said that the crucial part of the area should not be mined under any circumstances. The then minister said he had received very significant and crucial advice in making his decision. The advice came from none other than the member for Vasse. The Hansard of 14 September 2000 states - . . . I think the member for Vasse indicated to me that in the ground it is worth about $500m, but with value adding to synthetic rutile it will be worth in the order of $6b. That was no slip of the tongue because the then minister subsequently wrote to the Serpentine-Jarrahdale Residents and Ratepayers Association to confirm the advice received from his colleague, the member for Vasse, as follows - My reference to value was based on my recollection of advice received from my colleague Mr Bernie Masters MLA, member for Vasse, who has extensive involvement in the sand mining industry and who suggested that in the ground the value was about $500 million, but with value adding it could be worth about $6 billion. Graham Kierath was correct in saying that the member for Vasse was in a position to know. Following the concerns raised with me by the member for Roleystone, we have checked the records and, sure enough, at that crucial time the member for Vasse was a shareholder of Iluka Resources Ltd, the applicant for the resource. It gives a certain edge to the debate I had with Graham Kierath during which the member for Vasse yelled in support of the then minister, “It is a win-win situation.” Shades of Bob Bloffwitch! It is of concern that a very important decision like that appeared, on the evidence of Graham Kierath himself, to have been at least influenced by the representations of a member of Parliament who was a shareholder of the company that would benefit very significantly from that decision.
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