Procedures

SCAP meetings

Regular meetings of the State Commission Assessment Panel (SCAP) will be held on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month. Alterations to the scheduled meeting arrangements may occur from time to time according to work load. A current schedule is available on the meetings and agendas page.

Meetings will generally be held in the morning. Attendees will be notified of the exact time of meetings in advance.

Meetings will ordinarily be held in the Level 9 Inparri Kuu Seminar Room located at 83 Pirie Street, Adelaide, unless otherwise notified by the SCAP Secretariat. Meetings at other locations, including regional centres, may be convened from time to time to meet specific statutory or operational needs. All SCAP meetings are open to the public with deliberations held in private.

Agendas and minutes

Agenda items (excluding legal opinion and commercially confidential information, and papers relating to Crown Development or mining proposals) are made available to the public, including applicants and representors, from the Friday preceding the scheduled meeting at the agendas & minutes section of this website and at Level 10, 83 Pirie Street, Adelaide.

Minutes of the SCAP meetings are published on this website within one business day of the meeting.

Timeframes – Setting of SCAP agenda

The SCAP agenda and meeting papers are coordinated by the SCAP Secretariat and Planning and Land Use Services staff of the Department for Trade and Investment. All final plans, supporting documentation and final comments from referral agencies (if required) must be with the relevant DTI planning officer on the Thursday, 2 weeks prior to the SCAP meeting date to enable staff adequate time to prepare the agenda item, attachments and meeting invites. This also allows sufficient time for the agenda to be distributed to SCAP members for their review prior to the meeting. DTI staff will advise all relevant parties of the date of the meeting and the time an item will be considered, approximately 9 days prior to the meeting date.

The agenda is published on the website, on the Thursday prior to the meeting.

Minutes are usually uploaded to the website on the Thursday following the meeting by midday.

Operating Directions and Code of Conduct

The SCAP Practice and Operating Directions (PDF, 260 KB) outline how the business of SCAP is conducted and are determined by the Commission in accordance with section 29(3)(a) of the Act.

Members of the SCAP are bound by the Minister's Code of Conduct which forms part of the SCAP Practice and Operating Directions.

Hearings and representations

Applicants

For applications to be determined by the SCAP, applicants are provided the opportunity to attend the meeting, even when there are no representors to be heard.

Representors

Category 3 representors and applicants are heard by the SCAP, as required by the Act.

The SCAP will exercise its discretion whether to hear Category 2 representors, in accordance with the Act.

Concurrence items

For requests by councils for concurrence, the SCAP only considers the written advice and documentation provided by the council. As the council has made its decision, neither the applicant nor representors (who may already have exercised their right to attend a Development Assessment Panel meeting) are invited to ensure procedural fairness in the SCAP’s deliberations.

General

The Presiding Member will allow any member of the SCAP to ask relevant questions of any person appearing before it, and may refuse to allow any questions, comment or debate that is in his/her opinion not relevant to the subject matter.

The SCAP can provide a video or telephone link for representors and applicants where required.

The SCAP discusses and determines applications in private after representors, council and the applicant have left the meeting.

Meeting protocols

To minimise the risk of COVID-19, it is essential that anyone feeling unwell or displaying any form of illness does not attend SCAP meetings in person. Attendees should not sit or stand closer than 1.5 metres and no handshakes or physical contact should occur.

Subject to numbers, members of the public and media may attend in person but must register by 3:00 pm on the Monday prior to the meeting.

Attendees will follow the direction of the Presiding Member and are expected to adhere to the following general meeting protocols:

  • Members, staff and visitors will not use mobile phones during the meeting.
  • No electronic recording or photography will be permitted in meetings other than with the express and prior permission of the Presiding Member.
  • The Presiding Member may ask any person attending a meeting of the SCAP who is behaving in a disorderly manner or otherwise causing disruption to leave the meeting.

SCAP staff

While independent of the government, SCAP is supported in its role by the Planning and Land Use Services division of the Department for Trade and Investment. Staff provide professional research and advice to the SCAP regarding applications and other matters. The SCAP is also able to delegate extensive administrative and decision making responsibility to certain planning officers of the Department.