Page 4189 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 23 October 1991
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We have to note, I think, however, that immediately we pass this legislation and immediately we adopt the Territory Plan, which I guess is not too far into the future, a new process of change will begin. Planning and the plan are dynamic things. They are not going to remain static. So, we will see a new process of change; but that process of change will begin from a better and clearer baseline than we have had before. We will at least know where we are starting from. That baseline, as I have said before, will itself provide a much better process and a much better system than we have had in the past.
Mr Speaker, I think there is an important principle inherent in the legislation that needs to be understood. Mr Wood made reference to it in his speech. It is that lease applications and development applications which accord with the Territory Plan will not be subject to public notification and third-party appeal processes. That is the basic change which is going to make the system in the future so much simpler, so much better and so much more certain for people involved in it. This will ensure greater certainty and it is consistent, Mr Speaker, with the fact that the Territory Plan and this legislation are a product of this Assembly. They are not a product of the bureaucracy; they are a product of this Assembly and they can be changed only with the approval of this Assembly. That is a major aspect of the new legislation and the new plan that people need to understand.
The simplification of the appeals process is also an important element of this new approach. The leasing process will, of course, be open, and it will be subject to scrutiny in appeals. Those appeals will be dealt with by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, not by the Supreme Court. Then, they will be handled more quickly and they will be handled at a much reduced cost than has been experienced in the past. In practice, I am certain that people will feel much more comfortable working within an administrative appeals process than they have been in the past working through a legal process. I am sure it must be quite daunting to people out there in the suburbs lodging an appeal to have to confront the processes of the Supreme Court - that is, if they felt they had the resources to be able to go through that process in the first place.
I guess it is no news to Mr Wood that there are some aspects, a few aspects, of the Bill which are unclear to me or about which I have some concern. I will take these matters up with the Minister over the next few days, because we will not be proceeding to the detail debate stage for, I guess, about three weeks now. So, we have time to pursue those matters. I have had preliminary discussions with the Minister and I have told him that where I have a disagreement with the Bill I will discuss it with him, and I will.
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