Media Release 11 February 2019
Greens Member for Ballina Tamara Smith MP says while she welcomes the NSW government’s decision to moderate its one-size-fits-all holiday letting legislation to give local councils greater leeway, there are still a lot of questions to be answered.
“Now that I’ve heard the Minister for Planning’s comments this morning I have some serious concerns,” said Ms Smith.
“The Minister had a lot to say today but there wasn’t a lot of substance in what he said. He is allowing Byron Shire Council to prepare a planning proposal to limit short term holiday letting.
“The Minister is using words like ‘bespoke’ and phrases like ‘self-determination’ but there is no indication that our community will have a complete say on what limits will be placed on short term holiday letting.
“There’s also no indication that this issue will be resolved before the election.
“I’m calling for comprehensive community consultation on the maximum number of days that Byron Shire should allow unregulated holiday letting and given the industry uncertainty around this issue I urge Council to consider an interim 90 day cap because we do not want to see compliant operators go out of business while proper consultation takes place.
“Consultation should not be rushed because we need to get the balance right but neither do we want to see all our approved operators go down the gurgler while the politics play out,” said Ms Smith.