Call for Parliamentary Review of the Planning Process: Cable Car Case Study to provide a fairer and more transparent planning process for development ideas in Tasmania.

That your Petitioners - Citizens of Tasmania - raise with concern the City of Hobart Council's handling of the proposal for a Cable Car on kunanyi/Mt Wellington.  We draw your attention to the long-standing behaviour and actions of both the elected Members and the Council bureaucracy in using its position as land-holder to stop a merit- based proposal, even after lobbying to the Honourable Members of the Legislative Council that the Cable Car Facilitation Act was not required.  This action in August 2018 may be viewed as having personally and professionally benefited anti-cable car candidates in the Local Government elections held soon thereafter.  We hold legitimate concerns that the Council is now responsible for the assessment under the LUPAA planning laws and have grave concerns of the HCC's ability to legally and ethically consider the proposal as both land holder and Planning Authority.  We note that the HCC's consideration to date has been in secret and has been completed without independent probity oversight.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House as a case study, to consider an inquiry into the dealings on the Cable Car over the past decade to provide the Tasmanian Community with reassurance that the HCC has been acting responsibly, ethically and legally in all its dealings with the Cable Car proponent, and in its responsibilities to the broader community as Planning Authority.