Page 2892 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 15 August 1990
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A common theme throughout the submissions we have received is that further time should be allowed for the public to consider the Government's proposals in view of their importance to all sectors of the community. In response to this widely expressed view I agree that a further opportunity should be provided for the community to comment on the Government's planning and land use legislation. Once we have completed our current consideration of the community's comments received so far we will redraft the legislation and release it for a further period of public examination before its formal introduction in the Assembly. At the same time we will release a report on the comments received so far and the extent to which it has been possible to accommodate those views in the revised legislation.
In keeping with that commitment to a bipartisan approach in a further development of the legislation, I particularly invite the Opposition to participate fully in this further period of consultation. In this context I note that Mr Connolly, the Opposition spokesman on planning, was recently reported in the Canberra Times as saying that it is important to get this legislation right, and I cannot agree more. Furthermore I welcome and support Mr Connolly's call for the legislation to be examined in a non-partisan spirit.
Mr Connolly has also suggested that the draft Bills should be referred to a select committee of the Assembly for examination. The Government agrees that in view of the complexity of the legislation it should be examined by an appropriate Assembly committee. In recognition of this, the Government has progressively referred each of the draft Bills to the two standing committees with responsibility for the areas covered by the legislation. They are the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Committee and the Conservation, Heritage and Environment Committee. These committees have also been provided with copies of all the submissions received so far by the Government in relation to the draft legislation. The provision of a further period for public consultation will allow these committees more time in which to examine the legislation. I will be inviting the committees to conclude their consideration of the draft Bills following the release of those Bills in a redrafted form.
Furthermore, I suggest that the two committees might hold joint sittings in relation to those parts of the legislation which are of common concern. I see this suggestion as making better use of Assembly resources than creating yet another committee specifically to examine the Bills. By adopting this approach the Government will, after the further period of public consultation, have the benefit of the views of both the community and the relevant Assembly committees in finalising this important legislation.
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