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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 13 Hansard (21 November) . . Page.. 3970 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

I know that when I presented this bill, and indeed when I closed the debate on the previous legislation, I said that this complexity must not be overstated. This is a significant piece of work, and the importance of the changes should be clear to all members of the Assembly.

I must note my agreement that, while there are many amendments, some large but most small, contained in the bill, their effect is easily understood. As the explanatory memorandum states, they fall into only six categories, most of which are of a housekeeping nature.

It is also very important to keep in mind that this bill does not reflect a general review of the planning or development assessment systems. As I have said, it makes a range of changes necessary to allow the new organisations established by the Planning and Land Bill to operate effectively.

Members will also be aware that this reform package includes a proposal to review elements of the appeals system for planning and development matters. Again, the required amendments to the AAT legislation are not appropriate for inclusion in this bill. This is the reason the government has presented separate legislation to give effect to its policies on planning appeals.

These amendments will make a number of important changes. There will be a positive obligation on the tribunal to consider whether a matter can be resolved by mediation before it goes to formal hearing. This obligation to consider mediation, together with the engagement of qualified mediators, will result in more issues being resolved between the parties to a dispute without proceeding to formal and costly hearings.

The changes include the insertion of a time limit for completion of planning appeals. The amendments will require that a final decision on a planning appeal must be given within 120 days of an appeal being filed.

The bill provides for the tribunal to award legal costs against a party to proceedings, but only where a party fails to comply with a direction of the tribunal. The awarding of costs is discretionary and is limited to the legal costs of the case being adjourned.

There are a number of other important changes to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1989. I will detail them when we consider that legislation shortly.

Members will know that the Planning and Land Bill provides that its regulations will set out the kinds of proposals that are to be referred by the Planning and Land Authority to the Planning and Land Council for advice. While no such regulations are required until the bill is passed and has commenced, draft regulations have been provided to the Standing Committee on Planning and Environment indicating that the authority would be required to refer significant proposals that propose to change planning policy, that may raise a policy issue or policy interpretation issue or that may have a substantial impact on a locality. Details of the proposed regulations were provided to the committee for discussion and comment. Members will have the opportunity to comment in detail when the regulations are signed and tabled in the Assembly. As I indicated in the earlier debate, they are disallowable.

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