Page 1017 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 21 March 2012
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MS LE COUTEUR: Minister, if members of the community disagree with any of the government’s decisions in relation to the deconcessionalisation of any site, what avenues of review or appeal are open to them?
MR CORBELL: I would need to seek some technical advice from the planning authority in relation to appeal. My understanding, though, is that a deconcessionalisation is treated the same as a development application and it is dealt with in a similar fashion. But I would need to seek some details on that and I will provide further advice to the member.
MS BRESNAN: A supplementary.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Ms Bresnan.
MS BRESNAN: Minister, I understand that ACTPLA has guidelines for social impact assessment but what are the actual criteria used to determine the social impact of any deconcessionalisation application?
MR CORBELL: My understanding of the way the legislation operates is that the minister must give in-principle agreement as to whether or not it is in the public interest for deconcessionalisation to occur. Therefore it is a matter for the minister’s judgement to exercise whether or not it is in the public interest for a concessional lease to be considered for deconcessionalisation. In this instance the acting minister, in my absence during the Christmas-new year break, determined that it was in the public interest to do so, a decision that I support.
MR COE: Supplementary.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Coe.
MR COE: Minister, what reforms will you put in place to make the process of deconcessionalisation more transparent, especially with regard to the value of the leases?
MR CORBELL: The process in relation to the value of leases is not a new one; it has been a process that has been applied by successive governments, including previous Liberal governments, whereby there is a valuation process involving a number of valuations obtained from independent valuers with an appropriate formula applied as to which valuation is taken into account in determining the payout component of a concessional lease.
In relation to transparency around the deconcessionalisation process, I am on the record as saying that this is a highly technical process and therefore one that can appear complex and difficult for members of the public to understand. The committee, in its report on the draft variation in relation to the Brumbies site, has made some recommendations in relation to that process and the government is currently giving consideration to those recommendations.
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