Page 4205 - Week 11 - Thursday, 17 Sept 2009
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Water, Heritage and the Arts and the contributing entities. I have also applied a specific condition which requires ongoing community information, consultation and involvement for the life of the project.
The Planning and Development Act 2007 provides for specific criteria in relation to the exercise of the call-in power. I have used my call-in powers in this instance because I consider the proposal will provide a substantial public benefit. I consider the proposal will provide a substantial public benefit as the enlargement of the Cotter reservoir will enhance water security within the ACT and the surrounding region. Water security has been identified as a major project within the operations of Actew and supported by the ACT government.
To investigate the sustainable water future for the ACT, several projects enlisted by Actew and the ACT government were initiated between 2004 and 2007. The objectives identified from the research and planning included the need to increase efficiencies in the use of water and to provide a long-term and reliable source of water for the ACT region.
The enlargement of the Cotter Dam project was announced by the ACT government in October 2007 as one of the initiatives to secure the regional water supply. The enlarged Cotter Dam project was chosen by Actew as a high priority option for the following reasons. It delivers similar amounts of water to those amounts projected for the large Tennent Dam option, but at around 40 per cent less in terms of the capital cost. It will draw water from a more reliable catchment than the Tennent catchment or the Googong catchment. It will catch much of the water that the existing Cotter Dam cannot store, like the overflow from storm events and environmental flows. It has the lowest impact on threatened fish populations of any of the dam options. It will make use of the existing pump station and water treatment plant.
The enlargement of the Cotter Dam will improve the storage and the reliability and stability of water supply capabilities in Canberra and the region. This development will contribute to Actew’s supply and management of safe, secure and sustainable water supply for the ACT and the region.
Section 161(2) of the Planning and Development Act specifies that, if I decide a development application, I must table a statement in the Assembly not later than three sitting days after the day of the decision. As required by the act and for the benefit of members, I table a statement providing a description of the development, details of the land on which the development is proposed to take place, the name of the applicant, the details of my decision and grounds for the decision.
MS LE COUTEUR (Molonglo), by leave: I repeat that the Greens believe that call-ins on development should not just be notified; they should be disallowable instruments. While I am very pleased that this time the planning minister did not spend a lot of time talking about taking the politics out of planning, one of the things that we are concerned about is that things like this call-in actually put the politics into the wrong part of the planning. Politics is involved in planning, but it should be involved in working out the aims and the objectives of the plans rather than the actual implementation of individual projects. The call-in powers put the politics into the wrong bit, the implementation bit, not the actual planning aim part of it.
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