Page 4137 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 21 September 2011
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I understand that the court case will address the matters of interpretation, application of the gross floor area definition, the interpretation adherence to the local centres development code and also examine whether the economic impact assessment was adequate. However, there are a number of broader issues which need to be addressed by the government outside any implications of the court case either way. These include examining how the supermarket competition policy can be better integrated into the territory plan and its subsidiary codes, most significantly in this case into the local centre development codes.
We know that the government are currently reviewing their supermarket competition policy and its implementation. This is a positive thing, and I sincerely hope that the review is able to identify some further practical applications in the ACT planning and land system, particularly for existing supermarket sites. The fact that there could be a two-year hiatus on development in Giralang gives the government a clear opportunity to put a moratorium on consideration of any applications which are not already determined for direct sales of lands in existing shopping centres for the purpose of expansion of supermarket use until these issues are addressed.
I do not believe this will, in fact, make any impact on any actual development, but it gives the Assembly, the government and the community a chance to look at the issues. It will certainly not impact on Giralang, because the Supreme Court process is already producing a significant hiatus. I believe the other potential places where a direct sale could be made are all involved in master plans and certainly do not have active DAs in front of the government.
I note that tomorrow I will be moving a motion to inquire into some of the other supermarket policy issues. This was a motion that was on the notice paper in the last sitting period, but, unfortunately, we did not have time in Assembly business to deal with it. As I said, my motion’s moratorium on direct sales does not impact on any supermarkets in new suburbs, only those in existing suburbs, which is where the major issues are around lack of competition. Given the other planning issues involved, it will not impact in practice on their proposals, I believe.
In the process of investigating this issue, my office has been incredibly frustrated by the lack of a publicly available inventory of up-to-date retail GFA and supermarket GFA in the ACT. Sadly, the various sources of data we have managed to find so far do not align. Not only are our planning decisions being made in the absence of this information, but it also means that new businesses and existing business operators are relying on old information and are not in a position to easily or cheaply be able to calculate their best business model. This could be setting up businesses to fail, which is unfortunate. It should be the government’s responsibility, as the party who approves new commercial developments and thus has the knowledge, to calculate, maintain and publish an inventory of up-to-date retail GFA and supermarket GFA in the ACT.
There are a lot of issues to consider, which is why, as I mentioned earlier, I will be moving a motion tomorrow to set up a select committee on the subject. I commend this motion to the Assembly and I look forward to leadership from us for the benefit of Canberra consumers, Canberra residents, Canberra supermarket operators and
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