Page 505 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 19 March 2014
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(a) provide confidence and economic stimulus for the ACT building and construction industry; and
(b) support local jobs and target areas by providing certainty to the business community;
(2) notes the Government’s leadership in developing a strategic and collaborative approach to the stimulus package through the construction industry, which is a significant driver of the ACT economy;
(3) notes the strong support of the leadership taken by the ACT Government in developing the package by the Master Builders Association, Canberra Business Council, Property Council, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Housing Industry Association; and
(4) calls on the Government to continue to work with all sectors of the community to grow the ACT economy under its business development strategy, red tape reduction, taxation reform and the Digital Canberra initiatives.”.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (12.16): I will not be supporting Mr Coe’s motion today, just as I did not support the last motion Mr Coe put forward on this topic just three weeks ago. In fact, the “calls on” clauses of the two motions are word-for-word identical with the exception of the call to repeal variation 306, which has been left off the list this time. I understand the context of the motion today, which is in response to the government’s two-year stimulus package the Chief Minister announced just two weeks ago, and I will address some of the specific matters raised in Mr Coe’s motion and why I hold the view that I do.
When it comes to the lease variation charge, the Greens very much agree with the principle behind it and believe there should be a balance between commercial realities and achieving a fair return for the community. Since we last discussed the issue, the government announced its changes to the lease variation charge system, which will freeze all codified LVC fee and remission schedules at the current rate and remission level for the next two years. For non-codified variations, the remission rate will be increased from 25 per cent to 50 per cent for the next two years.
The Greens are pleased environmental remissions have also been included in the package, with a further 25 per cent remission available for developers who incorporate high standards of sustainable design and adaptable housing into their projects. We look forward to seeing more about the details of the environmental remissions package as they are brought forward.
Sustainability remissions are something we have long supported. It was Greens amendments to the 2011 Planning and Development (Lease Variation Charges) Amendment Bill that provided a framework for remissions to encourage sustainable design and development in strategic locations such as transport corridors.
Our amendments put forward five categories of LVC remission which can be used: environmental efficiency, location, community purpose, environmental remediation,
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