Page 5020 - Week 17 - Tuesday, 11 December 1990
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MR MOORE: I certainly will be. I will just jot down this amendment. I move:
Page 6, paragraph 16(1)(b), line 41, after "Gazette", insert "and The Canberra Times".
Amendment negatived.
MR MOORE (11.12): Mr Deputy Speaker, clause 16(4) more than anything reflects the shoddy nature of this Bill and the way it has been put together. Clause 16(4) reads:
In addition to its power under subsection (1), the Authority may, at any time before the submission or re-submission of a draft Plan to the Executive, revise the draft Plan to correct any formal error.
The indication is, quite clearly, that they intend to put together the plan in such a way that there is a good chance that it will have some formal errors. When you refer to the interpretation clause on page 3, you see that their definition is that "formal error" means a clerical error - whatever a clerical error might be. It means an error arising from an accidental slip or omission, which could be anything. If we left out the Acton Peninsula it could be a clerical error, depending on where you happen to be sitting. It can also mean a defect of form.
It seems to me that for us to put through legislation which says to the Planning Authority, "Go for it. Go as easy as you like. If you make an error and we find it, that will be all right. We will allow you to revise the draft plan and correct anything that you find happens to be a formal error which you consider, for example, to be a clerical error, or to be an error arising from an accidental slip or omission. You just forgot to put something in. You made an accidental slip".
The power that this gives the Planning Authority is actually quite extensive. That, in itself, would be okay if there was an appeals mechanism, but there is no real, accessible appeals mechanism. There was certainly a time, Mr Deputy Speaker, that you would recognise, when there were other members of this Assembly who were concerned about appeal mechanisms. Extending this power, it seems to me, would be an inappropriate precedent. I will move an amendment to delete clause 16(4).
Mr Kaine: On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker: I will move that, if this member does not put his amendments in writing beforehand, they not be considered by the house. We are not obliged to sit around here all night while he writes out last minute amendments, surely.
Mr Berry: On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker: I heard a motion from the Chief Minister. He would have to seek leave.
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