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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (3 December) . . Page.. 4421 ..

MR WOOD (11.52): Mr Speaker, I want to make one comment on this. I think back to nearly three years ago when this Government was first elected. Not long after that Mr Humphries, no doubt with the support of the Chief Minister, made this great statement that we were going to have one planning authority for Canberra. They would do away with all the confusion, all the difficulties, and settle on one body to do that work. I recall that the Assembly even passed a resolution in support of there being one authority. That went off to the Prime Minister, who paid as little attention to it as he pays to anything else about Canberra.

Mr Corbell: From the Liberals.

MR WOOD: Yes, from the Liberals. That was the aim of this Government. It was going to do wonders. The resolution, and we gave it our support, was an acknowledgment in part of the considerable difficulties that can occur when you have two planning authorities.

Mr Humphries was speculating a few minutes ago about what this motion is about. He did not want to hear the words that are expressed in the motion. The failure to come up with one planning authority at the end of the life of this Government and about halfway through the life of the Howard Government is an indication of what this motion is about. The Government has acknowledged that the system has not worked. There is the clearest evidence of all that it has not worked because we still have the National Capital Authority, as it is now, and the ACT planning system operating here. "We acknowledge", says the Government, "that we cannot get the answer we want. We cannot get the organisation and the system we want". Mr Humphries's great pronouncements early on about this wonderful thing are now shown to be a failure. That is what this motion is about. Let us recognise it.

MR CORBELL (11.54): Mr Speaker, in the debate this morning we are yet to hear an explanation from the Government as to why they are pursuing this announcement that we heard about yesterday regarding the granting of more Commonwealth land to the Territory Government. We have not heard a single explanation as to why this should be happening. We have heard no justification for it. I was so curious to find out why the Government is seeking more land from the Commonwealth - the story was blazoned across the Canberra Times yesterday - that I read the article again this morning. It seems that there is only one reason. The Chief Minister was quoted in the paper yesterday as having said this:

Visitor and resident perceptions of the city are clouded by overt wrangling between our government planning agencies over development issues. This is especially damaging when it delays or dissuades essential private-sector investment in the ACT.

But what has that to do with who controls the land? Surely, that has more to do with cooperation. Surely, that has more to do with an effective relationship between the Commonwealth Government and the Territory Government. It really does not have much to do with the land. Why want the land unless you want to do something with it?

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