Page 5450 - Week 17 - Tuesday, 3 December 1991
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conjunction with representatives from the Conservation Council, ACTCOSS, et cetera. It had representatives of the unions as well. All we are seeking to do is to formalise that process, which I believe was operating quite effectively and efficiently.
It was an unpaid organisation. My amendment provides for remuneration, but it is really up to the Government to decide whether it needs to pay remuneration to an organisation like that. What we are providing for is a council to advise the Minister and to advise the Territory Chief Planner on planning issues. This Territory is littered with this sort of organisation. Mr Wood has one for his arts group. They provide him with advice on arts. I do not think it is inappropriate in an area that is as important as planning is to the ACT. In view of the need to retain, maintain and develop the nature of the city and the Territory Plan, I do not think it is inappropriate for this process to be gone through. That is why we have proposed that this group be put into the statute.
As I said, I am disappointed that it would now appear that the Liberal Party has stepped away from this very important part of the process of consultation with the community. It may well be that, because of this organisation and its involvement in the planning process, some of the changes proposed by the Planning Authority and the Government will have gone through a process of discussion; that some of the concerns and problems will have been ironed out in this forum. We may find that the community will be much more prepared to accept the planning decisions that are coming out because they have been involved at the higher level.
I am not talking about this organisation or committee being involved in individual items and individual locations. I am talking about a body that provides general advice to the Minister, for example, rather than looking at specific matters in relation to design and siting. This committee, just prior to the commencement of self-government, were about to look at the community part of the NCDC operation and advise on what we believed should have been included in design and siting guidelines. That is really what we were all about. That is what we were on about. That is the level of decision making that we were talking about.
I think that is important, and that is why we fully support, and will continue to support, this amendment. A Rally Planning Minister, I am sure, will eventually introduce this process into the ACT.
MR KAINE (Leader of the Opposition) (6.29): Mr Jensen seems to be under somewhat of a misapprehension about the status of this Bill when the Alliance Government lost office. I have a copy of the final draft of that Bill as it was before we lost office. It is not the same in every detail as the one that is before us now, and in fact it never did go to the Cabinet. So, this document did not
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