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school boards and the like. To pass over that again, there will be two representatives of each suburb, making four community or residential representatives, as well as two representatives of local business, one representative of the local community council and up to four ministerial representatives.

By the end of September these LAPACs will be expected to consider applications for development in their respective areas, if any. Redevelopment applications already in the system will continue to be processed, while new applications from today will be referred to LAPACs. The LAPACs will be advisory only. They will have referred to them for comment any of the following issues that are relevant to that committee's area: Draft variations to the Territory Plan, draft guidelines, all development applications which require public notification under the Land (Planning and Environment) Act 1991, public works implementation plans, and preliminary assessment and environmental impact statements. Dual occupancy proposals will be covered by existing rules and will not be subject to the scrutiny of LAPACs. There have been extensive changes in recent years, indeed in the last six months or so, to dual occupancies. I propose that we see how they operate before we consider any change to that arrangement.

I will ask LAPACs to develop awareness guidelines which set a policy agenda for their area of Canberra. When proponents are preparing an application for a development, they will be asked to submit a statement addressing the local guidelines. Developers should be on notice that their developments need to complement our local environment, not to fight it. Consultation with an area's LAPAC should be viewed by proponents of developments as a means of obtaining certainty about what is expected of them. The open-ended nature of consultation mechanisms at the present time is a major source of concern for developers and residents alike. I will be releasing next week a discussion paper on exactly how the LAPACs of North Canberra will operate. I should emphasise as well that the LAPACs are not merely meant to be reactive to particular development proposals but over a period of time should be working on development of awareness guidelines for the areas that they cover, either based on the whole area of the LAPAC or suburb by suburb if they wish.

Members will have noted the new Administrative Arrangements announced on Tuesday by the Chief Minister. A major election commitment by the Liberal Party was the establishment of the ACT Planning Authority as a stand-alone statutory authority, and that commitment is being implemented. Of course, this process will change if the Federal Government responds positively to our suggestion that the dual planning system in Canberra should end.

An extensive review of departmental processes and procedures has been aimed at producing a simplified system of applications for development approvals. The Assembly's Planning and Environment Committee has been extensively briefed on this process of change. We expect that the outcome will be a two-stage application process for developments in Canberra: First, the development application, which will bring all the design and siting, heritage and lease variation applications into one; and, second, the building application, which will, as its name suggests, simply deal with the building structure itself. Work is already under way to implement these changes. The complex and arcane processes currently encountered by applicants have been a major source of irritation; their streamlining will be welcomed by many.

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