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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 5 (Hansard) 16 May) . . Page.. 1384 ..

MR DE DOMENICO (Minister for Urban Services): Mr Speaker, I ask for leave of the Assembly to make a ministerial statement on the parking of vehicles used for commercial purposes in residential areas.

Leave granted.

Mr Wood: You are going to do something constructive, are you? That will be a change.

MR DE DOMENICO: Mr Wood, you should sit back, relax and listen, which is what you did for five years when you were in government anyway. You sat back, you relaxed and you listened, but you did not do much more.

Mr Speaker, after more than 20 years of procrastination by former Federal and local governments, this Government has developed a practical and achievable set of rules for managing the parking of commercial vehicles in residential areas, after an extensive consultation process through community and transport industry representatives.

Mr Wood: Which you then ignored. You ignored it.

MR DE DOMENICO: Mr Wood, you should sit back, relax and listen. In April 1995, Mr Speaker, I established a working party, with representation from both industry and the community, to consider the parking on residential leases of heavy vehicles used for commercial purposes. A set of rules was prepared by the working party and agreement to these rules was reached by the majority of working party members. The transport industry representatives have agreed that the industry will absorb the additional costs of landscaping, construction of parking bays, fencing, noise barriers and garaging arrangements which may be required to preserve and enhance residential amenity.

The rules are a realistic compromise between the demands of a small but vocal minority of residents and the needs of the remainder of the Canberra community. There will be no blanket ban on the parking of heavy vehicles, and I am pleased to note that this view is supported by the ACT Labor Party. I also note that the Greens, with a complete disregard for the realities of life, believe that such a ban is a practical approach to the issue.

Mr Speaker, the rules will prohibit a number of heavy vehicles from parking on residential leases. These include refrigeration trucks, semitrailer pantechnicons, stock trucks and all vehicles over 3.6 metres high. The number of other commercial vehicles allowed to park on a residential lease will also be restricted. Only one vehicle with a gross vehicle mass - GVM - over 3.75 tonnes will be permitted to park on a residential lease, only two smaller commercial vehicles will be permitted to park on a residential lease, and only one small commercial vehicle will be permitted to park at multiunit sites. Those residents who have complained in the past about several large trucks being parked on a residential lease will now see an improvement in residential amenity as we move to regulate the cowboys in the industry.

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