Page 949 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 26 July 1989
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
I must also remind members that section 60 of the ACT (Planning and Land Management) Act to which I have already referred gives the same powers and responsibilities to the interim authority as to the permanent body which is to replace it. What we have here is an interim authority without clearly defined powers but which operates on laws passed by Federal Parliament and not this Assembly, laws which allow them to make their own rules without putting them before this Assembly. The Rally does not consider that the Executive should be the sole arbiter on such matters.
While the Rally acknowledges that the Interim Territory Planning Authority can take preliminary - and I repeat "preliminary" - steps to prepare the Territory plan we must assume therefore that the Territory plan cannot be fully completed under the interim authority unless we allow it to become permanent by default.
One of the key points in the Rally policy - and dare I say it is the minority Labor Government policy as well - was a commitment to open government and public consultation. This fact is very important when one looks at the history of town planning in our city. In fact, many of us in the Rally, both in the Assembly and our supporters throughout the city, only became interested in participating in this Government because of the failure of the National Capital Development Commission to ensure that it included a form of meaningful public consultation in its planning procedures.
The majority of disputes between the planners and the residents were caused because of this failure to consult. Too often we have been told, "This is what you are getting", after decisions have been made. Fortunately, towards the end there were some enlightened souls in the commission. The development of the Tuggeranong town centre as we know it today, even accounting for the failures of the Federal Labor Government to keep its side of the bargain, included a large degree of public consultation. Large public meetings in 1983 set the scene for the development of this important sector of our city, a process that I was privileged and proud to be involved with, a process that we in the Rally also insist must be allowed to continue in the future. The apparent unholy alliance between the Builders Labourers and the residents of Darling Harbour which saw the introduction of the green bans was caused by residents saying, "Enough is enough".
Mr Berry: In fact, it was Woolloomooloo.
MR JENSEN: I bow to the superior knowledge of union politics by my colleague Mr Berry.
This brings me to another important aspect of public consultation. There is a need to establish an appropriate process whereby the community can have some involvement in decision making at the highest level.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .