Planning Matters Alliance Tasmania

Ms WEBB (Nelson) – Mr President, today I rise to celebrate the hard work and success of the Planning Matters Alliance Tasmania, better known to many as PMAT. 

PMAT is a growing network of community groups from across the state advocating for a strategic, sustainable and integrated planning system serving to protect the values that make Tasmania a special place to live and visit. 

PMAT was established in 2017 in response to the Tasmanian Government’s planning system reforms, with a view to advance better knowledge of, and participation in, those reforms.  PMAT is a non-government organisation run purely on donations and voluntary support.  It has one part-time paid coordinator.

Mr President, I am pleased to advise today that PMAT recently received national recognition for its contribution to planning at the 2020 National Awards for Planning Excellence.  PMAT won the 2020 Planning Champion award for being the best non-planner organisation from across Australia.  This award acknowledges PMAT’s success in promoting good planning, the planning profession and the value of planning to the general community.

The Planning Institute of Australia judges, who made this award, highlighted PMAT’s strong model for uniting community groups to think about, to question and to engage with planning frameworks.  Also noted by the judges was PMAT’s role in educating the community about the new Tasmanian planning scheme.  Importantly, this award recognises PMAT as a national champion and a key voice and participant in planning discussions in our state. 

The Planning Champion award is well deserved, and testament to at least three years of work done by the PMAT state president, Anne Harrison; the state coordinator, Sophie Underwood; and myriad PMAT members and volunteers who have worked hard since the group was launched in 2017.

Mr President, today PMAT has close to 70 community groups as members.  These groups include ratepayer associations, local progress associations, social and environmental organisations, local ‘friends of’ groups, and some single-issue advocacy groups in particular areas of the state. 

The core of PMAT’s advocacy for good planning is the PMAT platform document, which has key principles that must underpin a robust planning system.  PMAT’s platform was developed with input from over 20 community groups and is a key guiding document.  The platform states that to achieve the best future for Tasmania and all Tasmanians, the planning system must enshrine core planning principles. 

These principles relate to community and environment, to strategic vision, transparency and independence, to community involvement, integrated assessment and implementation that is shared between state and local government. 

To quote from PMAT –

In essence, an effective land use planning system is one which provides for economic development that respects our local amenity and character, safeguards our natural and cultural heritage, sense of place and brand, and allows the Tasmanian community to participate transparently in planning and development decisions that affect their future. 

To this end, PMAT has worked to make complex planning schemes, laws and processes easily accessible and understandable to members of the Tasmanian community.  PMAT has helped Tasmanians to have a voice in the lengthy, complicated and sometimes contentious planning reform processes of the past few years, under which we will say every land title across every municipality transitions to the new Tasmanian Planning Scheme.

PMAT has done this through a series of public events, traditional communications, submission guides and online portals.  It has been very innovative in the way that it supports communities in their participation and in having a voice.  To assist with the educative role that it has grown, PMAT has developed an excellent resource – a free guide to help the community engage with and have a say in development of local planning rules, under the new statewide planning scheme.

The guide is aimed at individuals and community groups interested in how land titles will be treated under the new Tasmanian Planning Scheme, but are not quite sure how to get involved in the community consultation processes.

The guide clearly explains the key elements of the single statewide planning scheme, its state and local planning provisions, and how planning decisions will be made.  Then it steps members of the public through how they can be involved in having their say.

Mr President, citizen participation is a cornerstone of healthy democracy and a sign of a vibrant and engaged community, in advocating for community participation and creating accessible and practical resources to assist.  PMAT aims to ensure Tasmania’s planning decisions are open, transparent, and forward looking, and that the community will always have a say in planning matters and decisions.

Winning the Planning Institute of Australia’s national Planning Champion award confirms that PMAT is well and truly on the right track to achieving that aim.  I congratulate PMAT on its success.  I admire the commitment and dedication of those who continue its excellent work, and I wish them every success going forward.

More special interest speeches from Meg Webb