Page 1059 - Week 04 - Thursday, 1 April 1993
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Acton Peninsula
MS SZUTY: Madam Speaker, my question without notice is to the Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning, Mr Wood. I draw the Minister's attention to remarks he made in the Assembly last week where he stated that the extensive consultation process which is occurring on the future of Acton Peninsula is a process that Mr Lyndsay Neilson has been running and that in the end the ACT Government will determine what goes on Acton Peninsula. I further draw to the Minister's attention remarks made by the National Capital Planning Authority in the Canberra Times today which state that construction of a hospice on Acton Peninsula cannot start without its approval. My question to the Minister is: Why are not the National Capital Planning Authority and the ACT Government working cooperatively together to determine the future use of Acton Peninsula?
MR WOOD: Madam Speaker, the NCPA and the ACT Planning Authority are working together on this matter, though the National Capital Planning Authority, it must be said, has very much the prime role in this. They are the initiator. They do most of the running, and the ACT Government, through the Planning Authority, is a minor player. I have given thought at various times to the ACT Planning Authority's role in this, to see how the ACT Government's view can be put with more determination, with a greater emphasis on what we have in mind there. Bear in mind that the responsibility, legislatively, is with the National Capital Planning Authority, so while there is a deal of activity between the two agencies, a good deal of it at an informal level, we are limited in what may happen.
I said the other day that we determine what goes on that site. That is the case, because we are the ones who will be authorising it, and paying for it to the extent that there are government works on it. It is also the case - it is quite clear and always has been - that because the NCPA has the planning responsibility, ultimately, through their processes, they will determine, by way of the planning, what is possible there. To give you one example of that, we have indicated that certain health facilities will be on that site. I expect no difficulty with that because it was part of the document that the National Capital Planning Authority put out some time ago. In due course, when plans come forward, there will be authority, via the planning approvals, for health facilities there. That will happen. We will be able to put that there. If certain other things come through on that plan that we do not desire, they will not be built. That is the case. I am confident that what we want for that peninsula will be able to happen. Nevertheless, I am not entirely comfortable with the arrangements as they are because, while we do not have that planning responsibility, there are some limitations on our ability to initiate action. I am considering means by which the ACT Government can play a more dominant role.
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