Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 1 Hansard (18 February) . . Page.. 12 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

Given these serious concerns, the committee considered instituting a formal inquiry into the draft variation to enable a wider span of public opinion to be consulted and more detailed attention to be given to the proposed guidelines. But, on balance, the two problems we are drawing attention to are defects of the Executive process, and therefore it is appropriate that the Government find the means to address our concerns. We hope that it does so quickly. If it does, draft variation No. 64 should be able to be considered in the April sittings.

Mr Speaker, I ask for leave to present the statement and move a motion relating to the statement.

Leave granted.

MR MOORE: I move:

That the Assembly takes note of the paper.

In moving that the Assembly takes note of the paper, I am providing the opportunity for other members of the committee to make a comment and to explain why they supported this statement from the committee. Mr Speaker, the committee was very concerned, because we can see why there is a need for this variation to take effect as quickly as possible; however, we are particularly concerned about the Government processes ensuring that those processes are carried out effectively. So, the two recommendations of the committee, I think, are particularly important for the Minister to take on as quickly as possible and have his department deal with them. Then, hopefully, the committee will be able to deal with the variation.

Mr Speaker, one of the important things that come through the statement is that the committee is supportive in principle of what the Government is trying to achieve; but we do have these particular problems that I have highlighted in the statement, and I hope that they will be taken very seriously.

MS McRAE (11.48): Mr Speaker, I did not anticipate this motion. I will take the opportunity to speak, but I apologise in anticipation that I may not remember all the key points that did concern me about this variation. As Mr Moore has said, we are very keen for this to proceed, because it is quite clearly part of a bigger picture of helping to change our shopping centres that are ailing and to prevent the types of closures and changes that have happened in so many parts of Canberra, which have left us with a situation of local centres being more like ruins than anything useful for people.

What the variation attempts to do is to build into the Territory Plan the flexibility to allow some of the changes which the owners of the centres may well have wanted to do of their own accord but which, should they have been proceeded with, would have entailed a variation to the Territory Plan. When we are looking at hundreds of shopping centres, it did become a very cumbersome and unwieldy process to simply allow into a shopping centre a vet, or perhaps a small printery, some craft work or perhaps a light entertainment centre. Before anything like that could happen, you had to go through all the palaver of a major change to the Territory Plan. So, in principle, we were all sympathetic to what this variation was attempting to do.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .