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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (28 August) . . Page.. 2670 ..

PLANNING

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY QUESTION

QUESTION NO. 430

(First appeared on Notice Paper No. 91 of 17 June 1997)

Ms McRae - asked the Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning on 17 June 1997-

Can the Minister confirm that resources provided to Local Area Planning Advisory Committee (LAPAC) are to be reduced and that Secretariat support is to be removed.

Mr Humphries - the answer to the member's question is as follows:

Resources to LAPACs are being increased, not reduced. A full-time LAPAC liaison officer has been appointed within Planning and Land Management to be a single point of contact for the Committees and to provide secretariat support including taking minutes for all LAPAC meetings. This initiative will take away a large administrative workload from Committee members and increase the LAPACs productivity.

A total budget of $175,000 has been allocated for the continuation and expansion of LAPACs (including the existing LAPACs) in 1997/98. $1000 is being allocated to each Committee for operating expenses such as postage and photocopying. Previously only $500 had been allocated for these expenses.

The Government is committed to the LAPAC system. We are increasing resources to the Committees. I recently announced the revised structure and expansion of LAPACs into South Canberra and Belconnen. The expansion strengthens the role of the Committees and will increase their effectiveness. The increase in resources means that LAPAC members will be able to focus on the tasks at hand and generate more extensive comments on applications.

There will be more complete and timely information on applications, prior to all LAPAC meetings, and briefings on policy and procedure, as required.

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