Page 134 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 26 February 2014
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provide benefit into the future through the creation of jobs in the construction phase and then once the facilities are established as well as providing, in my electorate particularly, much-needed-community accessible facilities.
Mr Coe’s motion also talks to some of the issues in dealing with ACTPLA and the overcomplicated regulations. As many members in here would be aware, my time prior to entering the Assembly was spent in the construction industry running a small business locally. I remember a time when mum and dad home owners could put in their own development plans and applications in a simple, straightforward, easy to understand process. There was help available from the government, should they need it, to meet the criteria. When the introduction of this new incarnation of the territory plan came into effect in around about 2007, it went from a process that was easily accessible to most in the community to one that now requires specialised consultants to prepare and submit planning applications.
Not only has the planning system now become out of reach of most Canberrans to work their way through themselves independently but it now comes at a significant cost for a simple project. I will use the example of a deck and a carport—in excess of $5,000 just to do the planning and assessment to get the plans approved, not to mention the build cost. In some instances the planning cost is in excess of half the cost of the actual construction. That is an illustration of a planning system that has overstepped its mark and is overreaching simply for a revenue grab.
The impact this is having on the ACT economy from a small business perspective is quite significant. Just in the last calendar year over 50 businesses based in the ACT that were in the construction or construction-related industries have closed their doors or gone into administration. That is not a sign of a federal government that has recently come in; these issues have been long established and have been running for quite a significant time under your watch. That is 50 businesses, not to mention the associated jobs and the debts that they may have had owing to other suppliers and the impact they will have flowing on to the future. The loss of employment and the loss of businesses as a result of the stifled planning and construction system are simply not acceptable.
Mr Coe’s motion has significant merit and provides opportunities and solutions to open the way for construction, gives the territory an opportunity to insulate itself from the impact of some of the changes that are happening at the federal level and will ensure that the construction industry continues to grow and flourish into the future in a better way than it has in the past. I urge everyone to support the motion.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (10.29): On behalf of the Greens, I will not be supporting this motion today. I actually disagree with the substance of quite a few of the points that Mr Coe has raised. It is a grab bag of issues that have been cobbled together to try and paint a particular narrative. Whilst some of them warrant some discussion, a number of them are simply wrong.
It is interesting to think about what is impacting on the construction sector in the ACT. I was listening to Mr Wall’s comments and thinking about where the industry is at, where it has been in the last few years and how much work it has got on. I talk to a lot
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