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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 2 Hansard (27 February) . . Page.. 523 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

To complete the record, I would like to respond to the committee's views on specific recommendations of the Stein report as expressed in Report No. 13. I refer first to recommendations 4 and 22. The Government's response to recommendation 4 indicated that further work must be done before any formal statement of the objectives of leasehold is adopted. To this end, initial discussions have already been held between officers of my department and a number of representatives of interest groups. The proposed draft policy objectives will be available for discussion with members as soon as possible. The Government would caution, however, against formulating objectives merely for the sake of having them. They should reflect detailed and careful consideration. If the principal aim of leasehold administration is to manage the leasehold estate in accordance with the stated objectives, it is vital that those objectives be agreed only after appropriate deliberation and consultation.

Next, I refer to recommendations 6, 7 and 8. There is a commitment to review the effectiveness of PALM by August of this year, 13 months into its existence. I am confident that that review will endorse the implementation we have engineered of a new administrative structure which enhances effectiveness and efficiency through a single focus. We should not repeat the mistakes of past governments which kept the planning and land functions separate, with the result that the right hand did not know what the left hand was doing. The community has benefited, I think, from PALM's integrated and client-focused approach. As I mentioned earlier, the Government has appointed a new commissioner. That followed the interim arrangement which has been in place since August of last year of an Office of the Statutory Decision Maker. I want to thank Mr Gary Calnan from PALM, who has fulfilled that pseudo-commissioner's role in that time and who, I believe, has done so very well.

With respect to recommendation 10, the Government has adopted the term "change of use charge" which Mr Moore's committee recommended. It reflects the variety of circumstances where a charge is levied for additional benefits derived from a lease. With respect to recommendation 11, we have debated the amount and arrangements for the change of use charge in the Assembly. A package of amendments to the Act included the introduction of the change of use charge at a general rate of 75 per cent of added value, with provision for increases and remissions of the charge under regulations. The Assembly passed Mr Moore's amendment which provides a sunset clause on the 75 per cent rate. The amendment provides that the charge will revert to 100 per cent in 18 months from the date of commencement of the amending Act.

We announced that commercial leases will be renewed at an administrative charge only, provided that there are no other changes to the lease. This move is vital to underline investor confidence in the Territory, and the Commonwealth Government has agreed to move amendments to its legislation to facilitate this. To study the impact on investment of the change of use charge, the Government will commission Professor Des Nicholls of the Australian National University to examine the methodology for assessment of the charge. The study will take at least three months and a report will be submitted to me for consideration by the Government in the wider policy context.

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