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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 10 Hansard (Tuesday, 24 August 2004) . . Page.. 4003 ..

Leave granted.

MS DUNDAS: I move:

That the report be authorised for publication.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

MS DUNDAS: I move:

That the report be noted.

Mr Speaker, this quite simple report looks at a variation to the territory plan that the government wishes to make in respect of some land near Gossan Hill in South Bruce. There is a map at the back of the report that members might look at in order to get a better idea of where this block of land is located.

The variation relates specifically to a site in respect of which a direct grant has been sought from the ACT government for an aged care development. It is proposed to create a new block for this development by relocating Jaeger Circuit in Bruce, along with services and the existing shared path to the south towards Belconnen Way, and to consolidate blocks 1, 2 and 3 of section 21, block 1 and part block 4 of section 4 Bruce and the portion of road to be closed into one parcel of land, which will then become block 18 section 4 Bruce. The remainder of part block 4 section 4 will be incorporated into the Canberra Nature Park and the remainder of block 3 section 21 will be converted from residential to urban open space land use policy.

This particular area of land has been under discussion for quite a while. The Standing Committee on Planning and Urban Services of the Fourth Assembly also undertook a brief inquiry into this section of land and made some recommendations that this committee is very well aware of. So, considering the timeframe available to us and the committee contributions that have already been made, the committee was able to report quite quickly and succinctly on this matter. We note the necessity for the ACT to respond quickly and effectively to any proposed development for accommodation for the aged, and we also note that this development proposal has been subject to consideration for some time.

The committee has decided to support variation 241 to the territory plan. We note that there were issues that arose out of the public consultation process undertaken by ACTPLA, but most of those issues relate not to the change in the land use policy but reflect greater concerns about the implications flowing from the changes to the land use policy. The committee recognised that these impacts should be addressed in the development application phase and urges the government to make sure that that is the case.

However, the committee does have some ongoing concerns in relation to the process that has been pursued with some draft variations. For example, on Thursday 12 August this year, the Chief Minister announced the development of the 100-bed aged care facility at

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