Page 1896 - Week 05 - Thursday, 5 May 2011
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2000 to allow codes of practice to always apply the current version of an instrument, for example, Australian standards; clarify wording in the Surveyors ACT 2007 if a person carries out a survey who is not a surveyor or is not supervised by a surveyor; refine required information when making an exemption notice application as per the Planning and Development Act 2007; and allow a unit title assessment report for stage one of a staged development in the Unit Titles Act 2001.
We have contacted the HIA and the MBA and we have not received any concerns in relation to this legislation. I note also that the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety has scrutinised this bill and has found no substantive issues with the amendments.
Allow me to take this opportunity to reiterate that Canberra has a unique planning regime which has, through the years, made a direct impact on our wonderful city. As I once said in the past, Canberra, as a whole, is a leading example of a planned city which has many things going for its residents. I think that this is something that we need to strive to regain and maintain. I think that, whilst these changes are minor, they are no doubt important in ensuring that our planning system continues to contribute in a positive way to the planning of our city and therefore to the amenity of our residents.
We therefore, in conclusion, will be supporting the bill.
MS LE COUTEUR (Molonglo) (11.16): The Greens will be supporting this Planning and Building Legislation Amendment Bill. It is the first PABLAB, as it is known, and I have to say that it makes it easier for us, as non-government members of the Assembly, to monitor the contents and raise relevant issues than if it was all part of a SLAB. I understand that there will be more PABLABs in the future. And I am sure that everybody here looks forward to that.
The bill generally does a number of things to tidy up and improve a range of bills, including the Building Act, the Construction Occupations (Licensing) Act, the Electricity Safety Act, the Gas Safety Act, the Gas Safety Regulation, the Surveyors Act and the Unit Titles Act. The amendments to all these acts are all pretty straightforward and the Greens have no problems with them. We will be supporting them.
But there is one set of amendments in this omnibus bill which contain something of major interest to us, and that is the amendments to the Planning and Development Act. Of note is the amendment in clause 22 which inserts a requirement that consultation comments be available for public inspection for 15 days after the public notification period ends. And this brings inspection of comments on development applications and territory plan variations in line with what is currently applicable to technical variations. Clause 33 also brings arrangements for applications of exclusions of comments to technical amendments in line with comments to other types of applications.
Clause 30 inserts a section allowing for a regulation to prescribe requirements for a social impact assessment for the deconcessionalisation of leases. And this is something the Greens proposed in the EIS legislation development process late last
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