Page 178 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 8 December 2004
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not necessarily adopt the package as is; rather, we will always tailor a land act to meet the territory’s particular requirements.
The planning and development system will always be a contentious issue, as even the most advanced system will result in processes and decisions that not everyone agrees with. Excerpts from papers across Australia illustrate debates similar to those occurring in Canberra even after there has been significant reform in some of these jurisdictions.
The government has made it clear that we need a clearer and more time-responsive system for the preparation and administration of planning and development policy. We need to simplify and clarify not only the steps involved in the decision-making process but also the system’s expectations of proponents and members of the community who participate in it.
The government’s view on the key elements of the overarching reform agenda is on the public record. I would like to reiterate for the benefit of members what we expect these to include. They include:
• first of all, the management of the leasehold estate as part of the territory’s planning and development regulation system, with an emphasis on compliance with lease conditions, a reduction of speculation in undeveloped land and simplification of the processes for granting and administering leases;
• secondly, streamlining the development assessment system for all activities, including the administrative processes that have evolved around this system and promoting a single integrated development assessment path;
• thirdly, short-term changes to minimise planning system impediments in Civic, town centres and along transport corridors, including the pre-application phase, reducing the repetition in process and examining levels of public notification for those most affected;
• having a clear hierarchy of planning instruments underpinned by a policy-derived territory plan;
• improvements to the environmental impact assessment process; and
• elevating the status and role of strategic planning and policy instruments in guiding decision making and engaging the community early in the planning process.
Finally, we will continue to provide appropriate safeguards for members of the community most directly affected by policy change and development applications, and we will implement the spatial and sustainable transport plans.
Turning to the transport plan: it was introduced by the government to establish targets and strategies to make Canberra less car dependent and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. The plan establishes targets for the percentage of trips by walking, cycling and public transport.
We will, as a government, continue to implement the plan by boosting the ACTION base budget over the next four years, revising the existing timetable structure by providing more services earlier in the morning and later in the evening on a working day to give choice to commuters. As an example of this, Labor has already introduced the new espresso routes providing direct services between Belconnen and Tuggeranong and Woden. Further through-services will be introduced and commuters can look forward to
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