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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 05 Hansard (Thursday, 13 May 2004) . . Page.. 1888 ..

The conservator has exercised her discretion on licences in relation to licences for the current contractor on the GDE and has decided that the criteria for grant of the relevant licences have been met. A declaration under these provisions will be made to ensure that the AAT appeal against the decision cannot proceed. For future contractors the conservator will still need to be convinced that the grant of licence is in accordance with the criteria determined under the act, so the minister will not be able to control whether the licence is issued but only whether it can be subject to appeal.

It is vitally important that work recommence on the Gungahlin Drive extension. I believe that is the majority, if not almost the consensus, view of members of this Assembly. These amendments are necessary if work is to recommence without significant delay on the Gungahlin Drive extension. I cannot state too strongly the importance to the recommencement of construction on the Gungahlin Drive extension of the passage of these amendments, and I commend them to members.

MR WOOD (Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Urban Services, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, and Minister for Arts and Heritage) (10.18): I support Mr Stanhope on these crucial amendments. A large number of members of this Assembly were at Gungahlin last weekend; I can see the faces here of many who were out there. It is beyond any doubt that the intention of that meeting was for the road to go ahead.

The view that was very solidly expressed to the half dozen or more members who were at that meeting was that the road should go ahead. It will go ahead. Of that there is ultimately no doubt. We need to move it ahead with due speed and with due respect of our laws, and I believe that is happening. This amendment allows that the declaration is a disallowable instrument—a significant improvement, if you like to put it that way.

This will work. Mr Stanhope made the point that licences are issued and considerations are given. This stops the appeals that are deliberately frustrating the work that has been long planned and exhaustively considered. As representatives of all those people who were at Gungahlin, and a great number more than that around this place, we should see that this needs to go ahead so that we can move with it.

Other proposals are floating around the chamber tonight, but this has been around for quite long enough. The message that we got is absolutely clear: an overwhelming number of people in this place concede—firmly agree—that the road should proceed and should proceed without any more costly, frustrating delays.

MS DUNDAS (10.21): The Democrats will not be supporting this amendment or the government’s other amendment that has been circulated, which remove the ability of the judiciary, in this case the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, to scrutinise the activities of government. This amendment continues with the government’s objective of trampling on the oversight of the courts and removing the appeal rights of Canberra citizens.

The argument that we put forward during the debate on the land planning environment regulation fits here as well. The ACT Democrats do not condone the removal of Canberrans’ rights to access the justice system. The government has this evening circulated two measures to try and fix the impasse that they see. The main difference

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