Page 3405 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 18 September 2013
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(b) delay any implementation of Draft Variation 308 until after the City Plan has been completed;
(c) undertake a thorough review into the impact of Variation 306 with the intention of rectifying the significant problems the changes have brought about for industry, and subsequently, the ACT economy; and
(d) investigate the reasons for the failure to sell Denman Prospect and make any necessary revisions, such as sub-dividing the site and removing the restrictions imposed by Variation 306.
I rise today to call for certainty, confidence and rationality in the territory’s planning system. Quite frankly, each of these is missing in the documentation and implementation of the policies of this government.
For too long, we have had an ad hoc planning system that does not serve our city well. I do not think you would say that anyone involved or impacted by the planning system would be satisfied, be it planners, architects, engineers, builders, developers, property agents, certifiers, proponents, banks, neighbours or residents. Something is going wrong when there are seemingly no winners in the system. Now, the government may say that this is a badge of honour, that everyone is making sacrifices. This might be true if what was being achieved was in fact for the common good or the best-case scenario. However, instead what we are getting is the worst of all worlds. We are in a position where symptom after symptom is being treated, with patch after patch, policy after policy, but there is no consistency or common message.
As it stands, the planning system in the ACT indicates that we are closed for business, that people should invest elsewhere.
Of course, in competitive federalism, jurisdictions are able to compete, and that is exactly what the New South Wales government and Queanbeyan City Council are doing. I commend them for their competitive and aggressive approach of trying to attract investment into and around Queanbeyan. However, it seems that in this bidding war, the Queanbeyan City Council is the only one bidding. The ACT government has all but surrendered future investment to across the border. I think it is time for the ACT government to fight back and make our territory more conducive to investment in the property sector.
The story of Denman Prospect is a sorry saga. On 7 May, the day before the scheduled auction date, I said:
The question of yield is going to come up tomorrow when Denman Prospect is auctioned. Now, $100 million was touted as being the figure the government might get for Denman Prospect. It will be very interesting to see what they do get tomorrow. I think we might see a tangible impact to the territory’s bottom line for taxpayers tomorrow when Denman Prospect is auctioned. That will not have anything to do with the quality of land or the quality of marketing; it will be because of the reduced yield that DV306 will generate.
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