Page 436 - Week 02 - Thursday, 11 February 2021
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sitting. That is disappointing. It means that this bill will not go to the scrutiny of bills committee and it will not be referred to the normal committee, which would be the planning committee, for review and possible inquiry.
I want to put on the record that this is not good process and it is not something that the opposition will support lightly. However, given the pickle that has been created, it is a mess that needs to be sorted, and we will not be opposing this motion.
Question resolved in the affirmative, with the concurrence of an absolute majority.
Planning and Development Amendment Bill 2021
Debate resumed from 10 February 2021, on motion by Mr Gentleman:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
MS LEE (Kurrajong—Leader of the Opposition) (10.20): As the Assembly is aware, this legislation has been brought on for debate and resolution without the usual checks and balances attached to the procedures of the Assembly. We only became aware of its existence yesterday, when the minister for planning presented it, followed shortly afterwards by his office offering a briefing.
My first instinct was to resist such haste as being inappropriate and contrary to good parliamentary procedure, and I do not resile from that position. I note that Mr Hanson has spoken about the Canberra Liberals’ concerns about the apparent urgency of this bill, so I will not dwell on the highly unusual and contrary way of dealing with it, the day after it was tabled, save to say that during the briefing we did put questions to officials and the minister’s staff, and have accepted, on this occasion as a one-off, the need to deal with it today—the very next day after it was tabled.
This bill gives legislative backing to a, by and large, tri-partisan position taken during the 2020 election campaign and also referenced in the Labor-Greens parliamentary agreement. The purpose of this bill is to introduce a ban on the development of new waste facilities and the expansion of existing waste facilities in Fyshwick. Proposed section 137F specifically states that “the planning and land authority must not accept a prohibited waste facility development application”. This section goes on to define a “prohibited waste facility development application” as:
… a development application in relation to a development proposal for the use of land in the division of Fyshwick that would, if it were approved, permit—
(a) the use of any part of the land as a waste facility; or
(b) if the land is used, wholly or partly, as an existing waste facility—an increase in the amount of waste handled on the land each year.
It goes on to define a “waste facility” as:
(a) … a site used for the handling of waste and includes—
(i) an incineration facility; and
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