Andrew Mangano
for NEDLANDS
Andrew Mangano
Nedlands 2021
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Authorised by Andrew Mangano, 51 Minora Road Dalkeith 6009
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ABOUT ANDREW
Andrew is standing for Nedlands as a independent candidate,
CURRENT ISSUES
March 11, 2021
State Development Assessment Unit even worse than Development Assessment Panels
Today, 11th March 2021, marks another nail in the coffin of democracy in Western Australia.
The State Development Assessment Unit (or SDAU) and its masters, the WAPC, approved a 4 storey hospital in residential area, despite opposition from over 700 residents and the City of Nedlands itself.
Both major political parties supported the introduction of the SDAU through their support of the Planning and Development Amendment Act 2020.
The SDAU and WAPC are stacked with planning zealots, and absolutely no representation from democratically elected councillors, so where is the democracy? There is none!
It is time for the community to take back democracy in planning. The only way this can be done is to replace major party politicians with community minded independent representatives to reform the WAPC and its subsidiary organisations.
March 5, 2021
Lack of Third Party appeals and developer donations a double whammy for the Western Australian community
Western Australians face a double whammy from pro-development forces due to the lack of third party appeals rights (as highlighted in last week’s Post by former Cottesloe MLA and Nedlands Deputy Mayor Bill Hassell) and the developer donations to the 2 major political parties, the ALP and the Liberal Party.
The only route of appeal is to go to the Supreme Court, an expensive process, involving lawyers and barristers. Is it fair that a developer can appeal to the State Administrative Tribunal, but even an elected Council can not? And why would the major party politicians change this, given the developer donations they receive?
What we are seeing happen is undemocratic and symbolic of a totalitarian state, with the oligarchs being in bed with an autocratic State Government.
I urge all electors to seriously consider voting for independents and minor parties to protest this state of affairs which is supported by both major political parties.
Perhaps when the 2 major parties primary votes are decimated, that they will finally get the message that the developer donations should be banned and third party appeals accepted, as in other states.
February 23, 2021
Consider your preferences carefully
There is no doubt that the current Labor Government is in a political war with the Western Suburbs, its weapon being the use of JDAP’s to ram through inappropriate apartment (or flats) developments, to eventually change the demographics of the area.
In Nedlands electorate, the current member Bill Marmion has done very little to defend his electorate from this attack, possibly because of the political donations that both major parties receive from development interests.
There is a concern in the community that Labor may win the seat of Nedlands. This is because if Mr Marmion’s primary vote falls significantly, and most of those not voting for him have the Labor candidate as a high preference, that Labor will win the seat.
Labor should not be rewarded for the damage they are doing to the Nedlands and the rest of the Western Suburbs. If they won Nedlands they could say statements like “the majority of Nedlands support our imposition of Nedlands LPS3 and Subiaco LPS5”
I urge you to not only consider your primary vote carefully, but also your preferences, and suggest that you put Labor last to signal your dissatisfaction with the current Labor government’s imposition of LPS3 on Nedlands and LPS5 on Subiaco.
February 15, 2021
Chellingworth towers doomed to fail
Last week’s approval of the three towers on the Chellingworth site by the MINJDAP marks a new low in Western Australia’s planning system, which is run by planning zealots in the WAPC and DPLH, and major party politicians funded by development interests.
One state government appointed JDAP panel member, John Syme, former business partner of Bill Marmion, the current MP for Nedlands, made comments relating to the financial viability of the project which are both inappropriate and irrelevant to whether it should be approved or not.
There is an argument, that the bigger the project, the bigger the risks of cost over-runs, and the more pre-sales are required for it to be viable. And at 231 apartments there will be a lot of pre-sales required for this project. Nedlands is seeing time and time again approved apartment projects stalled because there is simply no demand for the apartments on offer. This project is more likely to fail than any other.
Buying off-the-plan is fraught with risks, and many an off-the-plan apartment buyer has been financially burnt before and many more will in the future. And even if completed, apartment buyers will be subject to huge strata fees and also potentially exposed to COVID-19 and other transmissible diseases in the common areas such as foyers and lifts and in the air conditioning systems.
In my opinion, it is time for the planning zealots and the major party politicians funded by development interests to reconsider their obsession with apartment developments and realise that the majority of Australians want to live in houses, and a lesser extent villas or townhouses, and JDAP’s disbanded and local planning decisions returned to democratically elected local governments where it rightly belongs.
December 18, 2020
Time to reform Development Assessment Panels (or better still scrap them)
I refer to the Post article “Planning Laws ‘disgraceful’” last week.
Time after time the State Government’s 3 proxies on the Metro Inner North Joint Development Assessment Panel (MINJDAP) vote to approve large scale developments which have amenity and traffic impacts on the neighbouring properties and the community as a whole.
There is no neighbours’ right of appeal in this state, unlike almost all other states.
In Nedlands, what is looming is a planning disaster, with gridlocked streets such as Broadway, Dalkeith Road and Stirling Highway, and rat-running in surrounding streets, with no remedy possible.
Perhaps there needs to be a change of the government appointees to the JDAP, from architects and planners beholden to the “Perth to Peel 3.5M by 2050” cult at all costs, to traffic engineers and others who appreciate the downstream impacts of large scale developments, or better still, disband JDAP’s and let elected members of local government decide whether these developments should occur or not.
Perhaps a Supreme Court challenge by those affected by these developments will test the validity of these approvals.
But in the end, perhaps the market will protect us from this planning disaster. Because many of these developments will not happen, as there is no market for such developments.
November 11, 2020
Time for a reality check on apartments
Recently, there have been many house sales in the Western Suburbs. Perhaps that is due to expatriates returning to Perth due to COVID-19, or perhaps it is due to people exiting other investments and investing in their own house or an investment property. Accompanying this has been an increase in the median sale price of houses in this area.
However, in contrast, sales of units across Perth are falling, particularly in the last 6 months, and their median sale price is falling to an even greater extent.
Since 2015, the median sale price for units has fallen nearly 20% and extrapolating the current trend will result in another 20% drop in the next 5 years, which raises the question, why would anyone want to build more units, and why would anyone buy a unit?
Units have many downsides, including strata fees (which are often quite high), lack of privacy, common facilities, common walls, lack of parking, noise and other issues.
The first multiple dwelling unit site approved by the JDAP in the City of Nedlands under LPS3, 135 Broadway, is currently on the market. This will be the first of many, as developers attempt to offload their sites to others, because even though they have an approved DA, their project is simply unviable.
Unfortunately, in the meanwhile, deteriorating houses and empty blocks will scar the affected streets in the City of Nedlands, devaluing all properties in those streets.
It is time that the State Government, WAPC, DPLH and the developers themselves take a reality check.
March 3, 2021
Sunset continues to decay under the major parties
In December 1995, just over 25 years ago, the last aged care resident of Dalkeith’s Sunset Hospital left and the hospital was decommissioned.
For over 20 years, the 8.5 hectare A class reserve was closed off, abandoned and neglected by the 2 major parties, while each attempted to partially or wholly divest it at various times. In 2006, the current member for Nedlands, Bill Marmion, through his then company Syme Marmion, was engaged by the Carpenter Labor Government to produce a ”Business Case Analysis” for the site, while according to Ms Sue Walker, then member for Nedlands, Syme Marmion was also working for an aged care provider (source: Hansard).
In November 2016, the site was partially reopened to the public as a result of works funded by the sale of 0.2 hectare of land on the site to the Sultan of Johor for $8.5M by the Barnett Liberal Government. The Sultan also funded the playground, which is the only significant part of the site currently open to the public.
Over 4 years have now passed since the partial reopening and nothing is on the horizon for Sunset. Neither major party has any plan, perhaps because it is considered by both parties a safe Liberal seat.
Perhaps it will take an independent member for Nedlands to push through the desperately needed renovation of the site, so it can become an “arts, cultural and community asset, and for related purposes”, that was envisioned when the Sunset Transformation Act was passed in 2014.
December 1, 2020
Architects have conflicts of interest working for developers and councils
In 2018, the City of Subiaco appointed Hassell Studio to work with the community and begin precinct planning for the Rokeby Road South area. The outcome of the project is the draft Local Development Plan referred to in the Post article, that will guide the city’s consideration of Scheme Amendment No. 35 and inform council’s response on draft Local Planning Scheme No. 5, including an analysis of the streetscape, land uses, building heights and form, and local character.
What has been recommended in terms of built form in the draft Local Development Plan appears to be far in excess of what the community is saying is acceptable, and has even been described as misleading by an independent architect.
In 2020, the City of Nedlands also appointed Hassell Studio to undertake built form modelling for Broadway, the proposed town centre and Waratah Avenue Dalkeith precincts.
There is a major issue with Hassell Studio and similar companies in Perth working on projects such as these, in that they have a serious conflict of interest as they also work for developers, often in the same areas they are working for the local government. It appears that unless a fully independent party is used for this type of work, then these studies cannot be relied upon as a true representation of the community’s wishes.
May 31, 2020
Power grab raises many issues
Planning Minister Rita Saffioti’s parliamentary bill to force through apartment developments by removing local governments as a party in decisions on large development (greater than 100 dwellings), in the name of economic stimulus, raises many issues.
Firstly, there is glut of apartments already in Perth. Adding more will result in massive loss of value of existing apartments, often owned by younger people, or mum and dad investors, often with large mortgages to service. This loss of value could result in bank foreclosures and hurt those who are the most vulnerable.
Secondly, the amenity of those living adjacent to these large scale developments will be badly impacted, by construction activity, then overlooking, overshadowing and finally traffic and parking issues.
Thirdly, a lot of these developments will fail financially, due to the added oversupply driving down sale prices, which will only serve to harm the development industry, not support it.
Fourthly, to reduce sale prices to meet the market, developers may drive down the build quality to reduce the construction cost, resulting in long term maintenance issues for buyers.
Finally, the loss of democracy at a local level which will only serve to further increase distrust of the State Government (which already has lost trust through its use of DAP’s) which will result in loss of support at next year’s State Election.
Minister Saffioti and Premier Mark McGowan need to take a serious look at the implications of their extreme pro- apartment development position.
September 9, 2020
Third parties look more appealing
Western Australia is the only state in Australia that does not allow third party appeals in planning decisions. Third parties include affected neighbours and Councils (in relation to DAP decisions).
The Labor, Liberal and National parties showed their true colours on 9th September during the debate of a Third Party Appeals motion debated in the Legislative Council, by their opposition to the motion –
That this House —
(a) acknowledges the current deficiency in community consultation and the absence of third party appeal rights in planning and development processes and decisions during the COVID-19 emergency period;
and
(b) notes the consequential erosion of Western Australia’s democracy.
One member speaking, Tjorn Sibma, who spoke on behalf of the Liberal Party, made statements like “Third Party Appeal rights will invite vexatious litigants and lawfare”. He claimed that this motion who result in an over-correction in the legal system!
Perhaps they are taking their position because of the property developer political donations they receive, which are banned in most other states.
These politicians do not seem to understand that the people who live next door to sites to a proposed 6 storey apartment block or a 4 storey hospital should have the same rights of appeal as the developer concerned as a matter of fairness.
Until the major parties realise that the neighbours of a development should have the same rights as the proponent, the ever-increasing tide of discontent will rise in the community which will result in ever-increasing numbers of voters turning their backs on the major parties and voting for minor parties and independents.
May 12, 2020
Time to ban developer donations to political parties
The current state government Minister for Planning, Rita Saffioti, has publicly stated that she wants large apartment developments to be approved, in the name of economic stimulus.
The “elephant in the room” is the why is this so important given the downturn in the economy, reduced immigration and reduced population growth.
Both major political parties receive political donations from developers and other industries. In other states, namely NSW and Queensland, due to political scandals resulting from these donations, developer donations to political parties was banned, and these decisions were upheld by the High Court after challenges by the beneficiaries of the donations and the donors themselves. To quote former prime minister Paul Keating, in NSW, property developers were sending a "wall of money" towards the planning minister.
It is time that donations to political parties, from developers and other industries, is banned in Western Australia, for obvious reasons.
And in the meanwhile, Governments should act for the community as a whole, not just those who fund their campaigns.
NEDLANDS ELECTORATE BOUNDARIES
