Page 2470 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 6 August 1991
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INTERIM PLANNING (AMENDMENT) BILL 1991
MR WOOD (Minister for Education and the Arts and Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning) (9.41): Mr Speaker, I present the Interim Planning (Amendment) Bill 1991. I move:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
The Bill amends the Interim Planning Act 1990, which provides for the establishment of the Territory Planning Authority and the preparation of a Territory Plan, and details the procedure for making and varying that Territory Plan. The amendments proposed in this Bill deal with the matter of making and varying the Territory Plan.
The Interim Planning Act sets out the procedures for the approval of draft plans by the Executive and also provides for consideration of such plans by the Legislative Assembly. Under the Act, where a draft plan is placed before the Executive for approval, the Executive has the options of either approving the plan or returning the draft plan to the Planning Authority. If the plan is returned to the authority it may be returned with written directions. These may include directions to revise, defer or withdraw the plan.
Once a plan has been approved by the Executive, the Act requires that the plan, within six sitting days of its approval, be laid before this Assembly. Unless the Assembly passes a resolution rejecting the plan, or part of the plan, within six sitting days of the plan being laid before it, the Minister is required to notify details of the plan's operation in the Gazette. Thus it is approved and takes effect on the date nominated in the Gazette. Once a draft plan is approved by the Executive there is no provision in the Interim Planning Act for approval of the draft plan to be withdrawn or revoked. In a situation where circumstances may have led the Executive to change its view of a plan which has been approved, there is no scope provided in the legislation to avoid the requirement that an approved plan be tabled before the Assembly.
That is the case now. The Executive has changed its mind. In fact, it is a new Executive - a changed Executive - and, as members will agree, that Executive wants to indicate its policy towards the variations. Some members opposite may not agree with what we are going to do with those variations, but I am sure that they will agree with the right of the Government to be able to impress its view upon these matters.
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