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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 14 Hansard (12 December) . . Page.. 4913 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning) (11.16): Mr Speaker, this is to allow activities to go on which can fall into a category which is not covered completely by the Territory Plan. Regulations might be made to cover certain activities which are of a kind which arguably should not be in the Territory Plan because they are not activities that take place in certain areas. They are activities that take place if certain conditions are met. Regulations are the appropriate way of prescribing the circumstances where they might exist.

The example that has been put to me is the granny cabins or granny flats. A person might not normally be able to have a granny cabin or granny flat under the terms of the lease, but if they fall within the terms prescribed in regulations they can be permissible under those circumstances. Regulations are put before the Assembly and are disallowable or they can be amended. It seems that this is the most convenient and appropriate way of being able to deal with that problem, Mr Speaker. It is not meant to be a way of avoiding the Territory Plan, because these matters are put before the Assembly; but they do cover circumstances where there is some need to be flexible.

MR MOORE (11.17): Mr Speaker, I am circulating my amendment now. I understand what Mr Humphries is saying, but I still think it is setting a very dangerous precedent to interfere with these contracts. To use Mr Whitecross's words, this is a contract about land. Even accepting what he had to say about it being a different contract from the one for the carpet, it is a very serious contract. It seems to me that this is not a good way to proceed. If you wish to proceed to make an exception of those contracts, which means certainly all the residential leases across Canberra, then bring it into the Assembly in terms of legislation, because this is a serious matter.

I am not opposing paragraphs (2)(a) and (b), because you are talking about those quite specific ways in which it can be done, and that has an effect on those. So, you have brought that up; you have put it as legislation. I see the sense in that. I can understand that and I will wear that. It is here in the Assembly, open and clear. When you do it by regulation and table them in the Assembly, the Assembly does get a chance to look at them. But we all deal with them in different ways. I think we are all conscious of the fact that there are times when you put regulations in and we miss them. With legislation, there is no choice. This is not something that is happening every day. It is a very unusual move and, as such, one that could well be brought before the Assembly. I think the example used was the temporary homes, which is one of the variations that we are looking at at the moment. If that needs a change, then when the variation is tabled in the Assembly for debate, similarly, an amendment to the Land (Planning and Environment) Act could also be tabled to deal with this, rather than doing it by regulation.

Mr Humphries has been particularly good in informing us about a whole range of things that he is doing. I am conscious of the fact that he, as Minister, will, for example, often write to me and tell me about a statutory appointment that he is making, even though I am not on the particular committee - and probably especially because I am not on the particular committee - that is involved and, as a matter of politeness, will check with me so that it is open and clear. I expect that that would be the same on this sort of issue. But we may not always have a Mr Humphries who is the Minister. Another Minister may have a different attitude. Therefore, I think that it is appropriate that these things come back to the Assembly rather than just be dealt with by regulation.

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