Page 4281 - Week 10 - Thursday, 22 September 2011

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(b) that planning policies should be free from inappropriate political interference, and offer certainty to supermarket operators and protection for ACT consumers;

(c) that the ACT Supermarket Competition Policy has created uncertainty and delay for both operators and consumers; and

(d) that the example of Giralang shops re-development demonstrates a process so compromised by political influence and interference that it has undermined public confidence in the planning system; and

(2) establishes a select committee to review the implementation of the ACT Supermarket Competition Policy, including, but not limited to:

(a) the development of the current Supermarket Competition Policy;

(b) the operation of the policy as it interacts with the planning system;

(c) the appropriateness of settings as it applies to ACT Government direct sales, group centres, and local centres;

(d) the impact of the policy on operators and consumers;

(e) impacts on the retail hierarchy;

(f) the process applied at the Giralang shops; and

(g) future applications of planning and competition policies;

(3) the Committee shall report back to the Assembly no later than the last sitting week in March 2012; and

(4) the Committee shall consist of one Member nominated by the Government, one Member nominated by the Opposition and one Member nominated by the Crossbench to be nominated to the Speaker by 4 pm on the day of passage of this motion.

I apologise to members for the delay. I move this amendment today because we have seen in the debate around supermarket policy and the development of the government supermarket policy some inherent contradictions and problems both in the framing of that supermarket policy but also in the application of that supermarket policy.

I flag that one of the reasons I was delayed is that there have been ongoing discussions in relation to some amendments to this motion, and it has been a bit of a work in progress. So I will circulate an amendment to my motion which I will be moving by leave in a moment. It has been a bit of a moving feast, so I apologise to members for that.

In relation to the establishment of this select committee and why it is important, there have been some inherent problems in the framing of this supermarket policy. As the Canberra Liberals stated at the time this policy came out, there are aspects of this

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