The Member for Liverpool, Charishma Kaliyanda, and the Member for Leppington, Nathan Hagarty, have called upon Liverpool City Council to abandon its proposal to revoke the Social Impact Assessment (SIA) Policy without any replacement safeguards in place.
The SIA Policy has been used in previous cases to defend residents’ interests.
One prominent case saw a proposal for a mega-pub in Casula stopped because of its negative impacts on the local community.
Without this SIA Policy or an equivalent framework, cases could not be fought in that way.
The two Labor MPs say that this proposed council move would strip away one of the community’s strongest protections against high-risk or controversial developments at a time when transparency and accountability at council are already under intense scrutiny.
Ms Kaliyanda and Mr Hagarty are calling on councillors at Liverpool to act in the best interests of residents and retain one of the city’s key protective measures.
Both members of parliament are urging residents to contact local councillors to express their concerns at this proposal.
“The Social Impact Assessment Policy ensures Council actively considers how new developments affect social cohesion, access to services, housing affordability and quality of life,’’ says Charishma Kaliyanda.
“Removing it – even temporarily – has severe implications for our suburbs.
“We are calling on Liverpool City Council to retain this policy, at least until equivalent safeguards are ready to be put in place.”
Nathan Hagarty warned that removing this policy would be a massive backward step.
“It would leave residents without safeguards against potentially harmful developments,’’ he said.
“It means no proper assessment for developments like methadone clinics, gambling venues, sex services premises, or gun shops.
“Ahead of this week’s council meeting [on November 26], I urge all concerned residents to make their voices heard by contacting their elected councillors,” Mr Hagarty said.