Page 952 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 26 July 1989
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during this interim period before they approved the changes.
Members should be aware that there are some cynical Canberra residents who have watched how many important proposals to amend policy plans seem to appear in the Saturday Canberra Times at the start of or during the school holidays. Policy plans for change to sections of Civic and Richardson recently are cases in point. While I am not saying that this is a deliberate attempt to reduce the time available for public consultation, members should be aware that there is still some concern in the community about the motives of our planners. I think it is good policy to dispel some of those notions.
The Rally has already received some indication from groups of residents and developers, for the current Interim Territory Planning Authority chief planner is difficult to coax out of his office. One must be charitable and assume that he is busy preparing drafts of our new territorial plan to put to the standing committee. However, now is not the time to consider this particular issue, but the Rally would like to see the standing committee being given a role in the appointment of the person who should fill this position on a permanent basis, bearing in mind that our city's future is in that person's hands. I am sure that the standing committee would want to have some say in this appointment, and we in the Rally would like to see this requirement in the legislation.
Another important innovation in the dying days of the NCDC was the introduction of a number of manuals which set out standard practices to be followed in the development of Canberra. One of these was a document I referred to some weeks ago now, the guidelines on urban erosion and sediment practices. It is proposed that the new legislation should require its work to continue, and that the draft guidelines for the provision of community facilities in new developments should become a formal document along with design and siting guidelines. Both these documents were being considered by the old NCDC community consultative committee at its last meeting, and I trust our Interim Territory Planning Authority has not forgotten these interim documents in its rush to implement changes to existing policy plans.
In closing, Mr Speaker, I would just like to make a few comments on the final paragraph of this motion. Some may think that this direction to the committee is a little presumptuous. However, it is important to ensure that the standing committee is provided with clear direction on the need to ensure that information is sought from as many interested parties as possible.
While some may suggest that it is inappropriate to seek comment from the Federal Joint Parliamentary Committee, we should remember that that committee was a watchdog of a
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