Page 4721 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 7 December 1994
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Madam Speaker, this committee gave itself a difficult task when we adopted this reference on 18 June 1993, almost 18 months ago. The committee certainly believed that it was a necessary task, given the work which had been done in relation to the Territory Plan which was finalised shortly before. We turned our attention to our reference on planning legislation, literally, when we did not have draft variations to the Territory Plan or planning guidelines to consider, so we are reporting rather late in the life of this Assembly - later than I believe members of the committee had hoped to report; nonetheless before the conclusion of the sittings of the Second Legislative Assembly.
I wish to indicate to Assembly members that, because of the timeframe available for the consideration of the report, I have concentrated my attention on the details in chapter 6, the findings and recommendations of the committee. I have done this because I believed it to be important to place this report before the Assembly before the sittings are concluded. I hope that members will excuse the lack of attention to detail that I would normally have given to the body of the committee's report.
Madam Speaker, I now wish to turn to the recommendations in the committee's report and to address a number of them. The recommendations that I would like to comment on firstly are general recommendations. Recommendation 2 states:
The committee recommends that the Land Act be amended to include a statement of the objectives of planning legislation.
This was recommended by representatives of the Royal Australian Planning Institute, who believed that it was important that the objectives of the legislation be spelt out and be clearly connected to the Territory Plan. It is hoped that, by stating the objectives in the planning legislation, that the whole area of planning and the principles of planning will be better understood by members of the community.
Recommendation 3 states:
The committee recommends that the Government investigate the feasibility of separating the ACT Planning Authority from the Department of the Environment, Land and Planning.
This was raised as an issue by a number of witnesses who appeared before the committee in public hearings. I believe, personally, that this recommendation has merit. The perception would then be established that the ACT Planning Authority is able to make pertinent planning decisions in its own right, without being subject to the Department of the Environment, Land and Planning. The Chief Planner would be seen to have a more significant role. This recommendation has been made notwithstanding the views of the Secretary of the Department of the Environment, Land and Planning, who does not believe that separation is necessary or desirable. He, in fact, strenuously presented that view during public hearings of the committee.
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