Barangaroo expansion gets the nod

The State Government approved the controversial expansion of the $6 billion Barangaroo redevelopment last week.

Planning Minister, Tony Kelly, approved Lend Lease’s amended concept plan which includes a hotel in the harbour, increased office space, and two additional buildings.

The approval has been condemned by the Greens and action groups who said the decision made a “mockery” of planning legislation.

“This decision is a con-job, a disgraceful act in the dying stages of a dead administration,” Greens MP David Shoebridge said.

“It is an illegitimate decision by a government which has lost the confidence of the people of NSW.”

Barangaroo Action Group Chairman, Ian Campbell, speculated the government would benefit from the overdevelopment of the site.

“You can bet your bottom dollar there’s money finding its way from Lend Lease to individual politicians and the government,” he said.

Deputy Lord Mayor and Vice-president of Australians for Sustainable Development coalition (AsFD), Marcelle Hoff, said she is appalled by the decision.

“It just indicates the depth of how morally bankrupt this State Government is,” she said.

“Lend Lease are tarnished by this decision as well.”

The decision comes after two recent reports lodged in the Land and Environment Court revealed the level of contamination at Barangaroo is more serious than indicated by Lend Lease and the Barangaroo Delivery Authority.

But NSW Premier Kristina Keneally said the decision is a major step towards Sydney being a financial hub of the Asia Pacific.

“The plan delivers prime buildings in prime locations with large floor plates, which will attract new companies and more head offices to Sydney,” she said at the Barangaroo announcement last Thursday.

“The hotel on the pier will help make Barangaroo an international tourism destination- delivering a world-class building for a world-class site.”

But the Greens are calling on Barry O’Farrell- if elected, to revoke the decision after a recent ICAC inquiry found Part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act to be subject to corruption.

“This approval makes a mockery of the rule of law,” Mr Shoebridge said.

“The Greens are calling on Barry O’Farrell to immediately commit to ripping up this political approval the moment he takes office.”

But Mr Campbell speculated whether the liberals would reverse the decision.

“When they’re (liberals) an incoming government, they’re going to inherit 20 years of bad government- so they’re going to need the money from the development too,” he said.

Last week the Greens and AfSD called on the State Government to hand decision- making powers for the site over to the Planning Assessment Commission.

“This is a government that is now revealing its hand as one that is governing for the corporations by the corporations,” Greens candidate for the Sydney seat, De Brierley Newton said.

By Sophie Cousins