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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 06 Hansard (Wednesday, 23 June 2004) . . Page.. 2567 ..

I believe will result in a process that ensures broad community representation and participation in consultation on planning issues. The key components of this package are an invitation to community councils to be more closely involved in the planning process, a strengthened role for the planning and development forum and the establishment of a consultation matrix by the ACT Planning and Land Authority.

The new community consultation measures for planning involve a greater focus on community council involvement in planning, and a new role for the Planning and Development Forum is central to the new non-statutory consultation processes. Of course, we still have all of the statutory consultation processes embedded in legislation. This approach recognises that the community councils have provided an enduring and extremely valuable community service and have valuable grassroots links. The government is proposing to contribute up to $40,000 per year to help the councils with this role.

Further reform involves the authority engaging the Planning and Development Forum as a broadly representative body that will act as a conduit between the authority and community interests of strategic planning and development of policy matters. The forum will be chaired by me or my delegate, the chief planning executive, and will meet quarterly. It will comprise community council chairs, representatives from the conversation council, ACTCOSS and the professions and development industry.

A further key message in the review is to emphasise the importance of matching the form of consultation with the purpose. This is one of the key issues that the National Institute of Governments has identified. To this end, ACTPLA is establishing a consultation matrix. This matrix will establish a baseline for the minimum level of consultation that will be expected for different non-statutory exercises conducted by the authority from time to time.

In addition, members should be aware that today I launched a series of new design books and revisions to the development assessment process as it sits within the legislation framework. If you do not have one, please contact my office; I am very happy to provide them. These are designed to provide better policy guidance for those participating in a development application, as well as a more consistent, simple and impartial assessment path that replaces some of the encumbrances and frustrations that we have all become familiar with through what has been known as the HQSD process. The HQSD process was, of course, introduced, Mr Speaker, by the Liberals.

Underpinning these initiatives is the desire to ensure that community consultation and ACT planning methods are appropriate, inclusive and administratively practical. These changes will build on progressive improvements to the ACT’s planning, development and building assessment systems.

I would now like to turn to the issue raised in Mrs Dunne’s motion around working towards a truly integrated planning approval system. ACTPLA and the government are already delivering on improving the cumbersome and lengthy planning approval system left as a legacy of six years of Liberal government. Improving the ACT’s planning system was a priority identified in Labor’s policy for the 2001 election and has remained a priority during the government’s first term of office.

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