Page 668 - Week 02 - Thursday, 6 March 2008
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
The previous minister is kidding himself if he thinks that the changes to the territory plan, the developments in the territory plan in Belconnen, will create economies of scale that would make public transport of the sort that he proposed with his busway ever work in Belconnen. Until you actually increase the density significantly in the Belconnen town centre and the Jamison group centre, you will never make the public transport system work really well for the people of the ACT.
There is no point in having 200 or 300 blocks set aside in Evatt for RZ2 residential core development, because that will not create the economies of scale that will make public transport work, and it is completely and utterly unacceptable to the residents of Evatt, just as it is completely and utterly unacceptable to the residents of Flynn and Melba that there should be developments in their suburbs without any real care given to how that will change the face of their suburbs.
Both Mr Corbell and Mr Barr say that the garden city provisions have worked well. The mere fact that changes are being brought about by the discussion papers and the implementation of the territory plan here today show that the garden city provisions have not worked. They have not been widely accepted or understood, and they have not even been widely known in the suburbs. Even today, people do not know about the impact that this may have on their suburbs. It is misplaced planning. That density should be around town centres and long transport corridors. No-one disagrees with that, but this government does not have the policies to actually implement that.
At 6.00 pm, in accordance with standing order 34, the debate was interrupted. The motion for the adjournment of the Assembly having been put and negatived, the debate was resumed.
MRS DUNNE: In conclusion, this is an important legislative instrument, and its arrival is long overdue. There is still much to do to make planning in the ACT really work for the future of the ACT and its citizens. This is definitely a work in progress, and the Liberal opposition will be watching it very carefully and critiquing its progress.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella) (6.01): I am pleased that we have reached today another milestone in the legislative reform for planning and development in the ACT. As the second stage of this progress, the ACT government has delivered a restructured territory plan. While the legislative framework for planning and development is set in the Planning and Development Act 2007, the territory plan enforces the principles and policies to achieve a long-term planning strategy for the ACT. The Minister for Planning, Andrew Barr, released his first statement of planning intent in 2007. That statement clearly identifies affordable housing and climate change as major priorities for this government, consistent with the government’s affordable housing action plan, the weathering the change strategy 2007-25 and the weathering the change action plan 2007-11, which was released last year.
The Canberra spatial plan is the key strategic planning document for directing and managing urban growth and changes. While the spatial plan outlines strategic directions to achieve social, economic and environmental sustainability, the
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .