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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 6 Hansard (23 May) . . Page.. 1717 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

If the Assembly is not sitting when the Committee has completed its inquiry, the Committee may send its report to the Speaker or, in the absence of the Speaker, to the Deputy Speaker, who is authorised to give directions for its printing, publication and circulation.

I will speak extremely briefly to this motion. Since becoming Minister for this area, I have had a number of representations from residents of the ACT concerned about the issue of amenity of their view. This has had a number of forms - people concerned about houses or extensions to houses being built next to them which have given rise to the blockage of a view to some attractive part of the Territory, the impact of the satellite dishes and cables that are now proliferating as a result of pay TV expanding in the community, and other issues that have generally been given more prominence because of the incidence of higher-density housing in the ACT.

It seems to me that these issues raise a fairly important philosophical question about how we provide for protection of that kind of amenity within the framework of our planning legislation. Having discussed it with members of the Planning and Environment Committee, I felt that it would be opportune for the committee to have that as a formal reference. I therefore hope that the committee will have some opportunity over the rest of this year to look at that question and give comments to the Assembly on ways in which we might deal with this issue which is of some importance to members of the community.

MR MOORE (4.49): Mr Speaker, Mr Humphries did approach me, as committee chair, to ask whether this was acceptable. I took it to the committee and, with some very minor modifications, which Mr Humphries has incorporated, we think it would be a sensible inquiry for the committee. I welcome this reference from Mr Humphries.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

[COGNATE BILLS:

Debate resumed from 18 April 1996, on motion by Mrs Carnell:

That this Bill be agreed to in principle.

MR SPEAKER: Is it the wish of the Assembly to debate this order of the day concurrently with the Auditor-General Bill 1996 and the Public Sector Management (Amendment) Bill 1996? There being no objection, that course will be followed. I remind members that in debating order of the day No. 1 they may also address their remarks to orders of the day No. 2 and No. 3.

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