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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 05 Hansard (Friday, 14 May 2004) . . Page.. 1943 ..

work or development, the issue of what can or cannot be done will be decided in accordance with the appropriate procedures.

This approach reinforces the principle that heritage registration should not be treated as a land use decision in itself, but rather it should be regarded as a specific application of the ACT government’s policy to recognise and protect heritage where such intrinsic values have been publicly nominated and verified by the council.

The council will prepare heritage guidelines that are broadly based, rather than specific to a single place, giving greater certainty to residents and developers. These guidelines will be used to assess development applications. As a key part of the Assembly’s role in the process, the guidelines will be tabled here as a disallowable instrument.

An integrated approach to land development is maintained in this bill, such that development applications lodged with ACTPLA will be referred to the Heritage Council for advice on heritage aspects. ACTPLA must consider the council’s advice in approving development and applying conditions. The government will lead this reform by example. As part of the requirements of the new legislation, managers of government-owned assets will be required to conduct an audit to identify properties of heritage significance and take measures to conserve them in accordance with the guidelines.

In conclusion, the new legislation will greatly reform the heritage system in the ACT. It will take a cumbersome, inefficient system and replace it with a more modern, streamlined, transparent system in line with best practice. It will give greater certainty to the community and to all stakeholders. This bill is of such importance and is based on such comprehensive preparation that I am confident it will command bipartisan support from all members of the Assembly, especially since it is based on such extensive consultation. I commend the bill to the Assembly.

Debate (on motion by Mr Smyth) adjourned to the next sitting.

Mental Health (Treatment and Care) Amendment Bill 2004

Mr Corbell, pursuant to notice, presented the bill and its explanatory statement.

Title read by Clerk.

MR CORBELL (Minister for Health and Minister for Planning) (12.01): I move:

That this bill be agreed to in principle.

The Legislative Assembly passed major reforms to the Mental Health (Treatment and Care) Act 1994 and, as part of those reforms, new mental health orders were created to provide involuntary care and support for persons with mental dysfunctions. These orders are called community care orders. A new statutory position, the Care Coordinator, was created to coordinate the provision of services for persons who are subject to community care orders. The Mental Health Tribunal is able to impose an additional order, called a restriction order, whereby a person can be ordered to reside in a specified community care facility, or be ordered not to approach specified persons or specified places or to undertake specified activities.

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