Those behind cry 'forward', those before cry 'back'

The expectations raised by Barry O'Farrell's enormous electoral victory in March are starting to present him with a problem or two. His resounding win gave him a momentum which his backers in business and politics are keen to see him use to press forward with profound change.

Last Tuesday we reported that the Urban Taskforce, a developers' lobby group, was seeking a legislative mechanism which would, in effect, remove the right of neighbouring property owners to protest against new developments in inner suburbs. The taskforce is worried that, as the government moves to return planning to local councils, and wind back the discretionary powers of the planning minister to declare certain large projects to be outside normal planning controls, it will create obstacles to larger developments.

Two days later we reported the contents of a submission from the Property Council's NSW division to the government which chimed in on a related theme. The council, a solid backer of the Coalition, deplored the delays to development approvals caused by the changeover from Labor's planning laws - which the Coalition has dumped - to the new system, which has not yet been fully implemented. The backlog of projects awaiting approval represented "four months of paralysis", the council said.