[LINK] Sydney Metro Lost in Cyberspace

[Tom Worthington]

Sydney Metro claim to have sent a report to the NSW Planning department
which responds to submissions by the public on the proposal to building 
an underground railway in Sydney. But the document is so large it is 
difficult to tell what is a response to any particular submission or 
issue: 
<http://majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au/index.pl?action=view_job&job_id=3003>.

The report consists of 40 Mbytes of PDF in multiple files. Sydney
Metro sent me a paper letter claiming to have responded to the specific
issues I raised in my submission (number 2536) but can anyone find where
responses to these specific issues are?:
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2009/10/proposed-sydney-cbd-metro-system.html>.

I phoned Sydney Metro to ask and got someone who could only take a
message. A few hours later got an email, with a copy of the letter they
had already sent. On re-reading this I noticed mention of: "Table 5 in
Appendix D for a reference list". It did not say what this was appendix
D of, but I guessed it was "06 Submissions Report - Appendix D":
<http://majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au/files/45258/06%20Submissions%20Report%20-%20Appendix%20D.pdf>.

On the last page of this document (page 28) I found a line in a table
which said: "2536 4.11 4.16 4.6". I assume this indicates that my
submission 2536 is covered by sections 4.6, 4.11 and 4.16 of the report.
Why these details are listed in this order is not clear. I was able to
find "4.6 CBD Metro – the first stage", but the report does not appear
to have a section 4.11 or 4.16, as it ends at 4.7:
<http://majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au/files/40495/Environmental%20Assessment%20-%20Part%20B%20-%20Chapter%204.pdf#page=19>.

The High Court of Australia has determined that a government agency
cannot merely make electronic information available in a mass of
undifferentiated material. Some form of identification of the relevant
material must be provided:
<http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/high_ct/2002/30.html>.

In my view, Sydney Metro has not provided a response to the issues in my
submission, or to any submission, as there is no clear way to find
specific responses in the mass of material. Sydney Metro  may therefore
not have complied with NSW planning laws as they have not responded to
submissions made.

More in my blog at:
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/02/sydney-metro-response-to-submissions.html>.
and: <http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/02/sydney-metro-alternatives.html>.


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Lecturer, The Australian National University t: 02 61255694
Computer Science http://cs.anu.edu.au/user/3890