Page 1585 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 31 March 2009
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The government’s attention has now shifted to the policies that make up the territory plan. This is a long-term project which will be worked through incrementally over a period of years. The government will review the structure and content of the development tables, the development codes, the precinct codes and the general codes.
The government will also develop a priority program to review the following codes: the commercial zones precinct codes; the subdivision development code; the multi-unit housing development code; the single dwelling housing development code; the bushfire risk mitigation general code; the access and mobility general code; the community and recreation facilities location general code; and the non-urban zones development code.
Consultation workshops with industry on all of these codes will commence soon. This is where the real gains from the 2008 reforms can be locked in. Developing the codes—getting them right—is the most important way of giving the industry certainty in planning decision making for the long term.
A recent important industry paper acknowledged many of the gains already made and put forward a range of practical suggestions on further planning reform, especially whole-of-government processes. The government will respond to this agenda over the coming year. High on the priority list will be working to develop a better whole-of-government approach to deliver development approval in a timely manner. Industry concerns about robust data on the number and time of DAs in the system are another important issue that will be addressed. The government also acknowledges that a unit within ACTPLA focused on major projects is worthy of serious consideration. We welcome industry’s input and we look forward to working closely with them over the coming year.
I said earlier that the objects of planning are simple: include the community, support growth and beat climate change. Climate change changes everything, and the implications for planning are enormous. The debate about whether there is a problem is now over. The debate about how to create the solutions is now open. Climate change means Canberra changes, and our ideas for planning must respond. That is why the ACT government began the sustainable future program. Sustainable future will ensure that our planning policies support our sustainability policies and our climate change action plan, weathering the change. Sustainable future will drive changes to regulation and design standards in the territory plan. It will lead to reviewing public transport, housing choice and infrastructure provisions in the territory plan. And it will outline strategies for a more compact city to reduce carbon use in transport for the long term.
These are long-term measures with enormous implications for the city that we live in and we all love. But the climate is changing around us and we must change with it. Madam Assistant Speaker, keep politics out of planning. Build on a simpler, faster, more effective planning system. Reform codes and government processes. Include the community in decision making. Support economic growth. Meet the challenge of climate change. That is our vision for planning in Canberra’s second century. I present the following paper:
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