Sam Newman at it again!

[LP]

There is a process that must be followed when certain land is subdivided into more than three lots.  The process is mandated by legislation and must comply with the regulations.  The processes that must be followed by the proponent, the heritage advisor and the RAP are non-negotiable, as are the fees payable to the RAP for evaluating management plans.

There is a world of difference between what happens with corporations, foreign investors and mum and dad owners.

The things you talk about are undoubtedly correct, but that is not how the system is gamed at the domestic / residential level. There is the act you talk about, the environment acts, the anti-discrimination laws, the wildlife regulations. They are all gamed to leverage advantage over anyone who isn't wealthy enough to either ignore or fight it.

The problem the people I know have is that they are just citizens, owner developers, residents, they want to live and participate in the region. But those wanting reparations are indifferent to them, they oppose them for a price, get preferential treatment from tribunals or committees based almost purely on spoken testimony / opinion, which can only be countered with expensive technical surveys, legal procedures and lengthy scientific, academic or engineering investigations. Corporations can just ignore the bullcrap, push ahead and pay the fine, they just treat it as a cost of doing business, but mum and dad operators can't and the activists know it. If you challenge them, you end up with a cabal of indigenous, green and animal rights activists making your life hell, and often it is the same faces in the opposition popping up oddly all over the state. The system is gamed and the average person is powerless to do anything about it because the laws are asymmetrical in implementation.