In NSW we have a “planning law” which has a profound influence over the decision making process of where we live, how our communities will look, what people can do with their land etc.
NSW’s main planning law is the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act (EP&A Act) of 1979.
This law and resulting decisions based on this law are very important to the NSW sex industry because it allows councils to create Local Environmental Plans or LEPs. These LEPs define what development can take place and where as well as defining how these developments will proceed. A real life example is when a local council dictates if a brothel can open, where and how. Some council areas have said that no brothels are permitted in their local council area, some say they may open and operate but only in industrial areas. All local council’s at this stage set their own LEP’s.
The NSW Government has decided since the EP&A was introduced in 1979, it’s time to review it and put together an “independent panel” to review the law. The panel went on a planning review tour which included members of the panel visiting different local council areas to meet with residents, stakeholders as well as meeting with Members of Parliament. Submissions were also called for from stakeholders, community members and all other concerned parties.
Who is in charge of the review?
Two people were chosen to co-chair the review and they were Tim Moore and Ron Dyer. More information can be found about them here .
The Review Process
The review is being carried out in a 5 stage process and they are…
Stage 1 – Review announcement July 2011
A bunch of politicians, lawyers, planners etc, got together and announced Tim Moore and Ron Dyer were going to be co-charing the review and what the review would achieve. This process is now complete
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Stage 2 – Listening and Scoping to be completed by 4th November 2011
This stage included meeting with a range of stakeholders including peak interest groups as well as a panel doing a two month community consultation in over 40 locations across NSW. The Panel wanted to discuss the community’s views on what they thought the principles for the new legislation to replace the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 should be.
For more information on the key issues community members were asked to consider, please check this page . NAUWU members attended and actively participate in these meetings in different council areas.
Community forum notes were taken at the meeting which are basically an outline of the discussions, questions and suggestions put forward by community members at each forum. Notes for each different forum can be found here.
A list of the stakeholders and notes taken from meetings held with them can be found here.
A list of the members of parliament consulted and notes from meetings are here.
Submissions were also sought and accepted until 4 November 2011 as part of this stage. A submission was a written response to the same questions asked at the community forums and people were also asked to include any other issues they thought would be relevant to NSW Planning going forward. NAUWU lodged a submission which can be found at the link below:
Final_NAUWU Submission to NSW Planning 2011
A list of everyone who placed a submission and their actual submissions can be found here.
It’s really important to read these submissions and minutes from meetings because it gives us an indication of community sentiment, who the stakeholders are, their views on certain issues and their priorities. For NAUWU, these resources are a gold mine!
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Stage 3 – Issues Paper deadline for submissions Friday 17th February 2012
Submissions and comments that were collected in the Stage 2 of the process were put together to produce an “Issues Paper” called, The way ahead for planning in NSW? which can be found here.
The Issues Paper looks at questions that arose out of the community forums and stakeholder meetings. Residents and communities are being encouraged to give further feedback on the questions raised in this Issues Paper by making a submission.
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Stage 4 – Policy Options Release with The Green Paper published by the end of April 2012
All the comments gathered at the community forums, meetings with stakeholders and Members of Parliament, will be combined with responses/submissions received from the Issues Paper that was developed in Stage 3. A working group together with the Panel will take all of this information into consideration and produce a document known as a “Green Paper”. This document will detail the structure they recommend for a new planning system.
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Stage 5 – Draft Legislation
A ‘White Paper’ and draft legislation will then be released that everyone is supposed to be able to see before a bill is submitted to the NSW Parliament. At this stage we have no time line or further detail of when this will happen.
So where are we up to now?
The Local Planning Recommendation as of 17th November 2011 have just been released by the panel and they are as follows…..
“LOCAL PLANNING PANEL RECOMMENDATIONS AS AT 17 NOVEMBER 2011
Sex Service Premises
Council policy positions on permissibility of sex service premises vary widely. Some councils permit sex service premises in a number of zones, including industrial zones, some only in parts of industrial zones, and some with distance based requirements to separate sex service premises from sensitive land uses, such as schools.
An increasing number of councils wish to prohibit sex service premises completely in their LGAs. The Department’s policy position has been that sex service premises should be permitted in at least one land use zone in every LGA. For some time the Department was part of a sex service working group that worked with councils, workers and other stakeholders to develop reasonable policy around this contentious issue.
Some years ago, it was agreed that this could be the industrial zones if councils so chose.The Department’s position is based on the reality that these uses exist in most if not all LGAs (whether approved by the councils or not) and that to protect workers, clients and communities it is best to have a regulated and monitored system in place. Without it, sex service premises will be forced ‘underground’ which can have negative impacts for all stakeholders.
17 November 2011 The Panel supports the Department’s current policy and recommends that sex service premises continue to be required in at least one land use zone in every council area, with councils to determine the most appropriate location for this use in consultation with the Department.
Recommendation is currently being forwarded to the Director General.
http://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=tTD8FiY-iTw%3d&tabid=513&language=en-AU ”
NAUWU takes issue with this recommendation because in terms of commercial operations limiting sex services premesis (SSP) to one zone only and where industrial exist, they will continue to ONLY be placed in industrial zones. This is unacceptable due to issues of workers and clients being able to safely and easily gain access to industrial zones and due to the lack of other services in industrial zones. For example, a person with a disability who may catch public transport to their local brothel, may not be able to get to an industrial area. A worker without a car may not be able to get to and from work if there is no public transport in an industrial area.
There is also no mention of home occupation which indicates that the Planning Panel is treating sex workers who work from home as if they do not exist. This is problematic because if we don’t exist, then council does not have to allow us to be in the area.
We are also concerned with the issue of regulation and what exactly the Planning Panel has in mind when they use the term regulation.
NAUWU and other allies and concerned parties will be lodging further submissions with the Planning Panel.
Will will keep you updated!
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