It seems NSW Planning Minister Frank Sartor’s decision to allow the Tralee development to go ahead against independent advice was – quite coincidentally I’m sure – accompanied by a large donation from the developer to the NSW Labor Party.
From the Herald story: Village Building Company, which pushed for several rural properties in Queanbeyan to be rezoned residential so it could build more than 4500 homes on it, donated $154,400 to NSW Labor since 2002, Australian Electoral Commission returns reveal.
The minister, Frank Sartor, ignored the advice of his own panel and shortly after last year’s state election approved a strategy for Queanbeyan that would allow residential development at Tralee, near Canberra Airport – which does not have a curfew…
… The panel’s report said there was no reason for the rezoning when other more appropriate sites at Googong were available.