Page 1495 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 14 May 2014
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(2) calls on the Government to:
(a) undertake an independent and holistic review of the Territory Plan; and
(b) ensure relevant stakeholders are consulted prior to changes to the planning system.
I rise today once again to call for certainty, confidence and rationality in the territory’s planning system. The planning system here in the ACT unfortunately is a mess. Planners, architects, engineers, builders, developers, property agents, certifiers, proponents, banks, neighbours, residents—everyone—are suffering as a result of the uncertainty with the current planning system here in the territory. It is time for the government to review the territory plan and to undertake genuine consultation.
The government has a very poor record in the planning portfolio. The list of failures continues to grow and the community is becoming more and more frustrated by the lack of consultation, in particular the lack of consultation by the planning minister. My motion today lists some—just some—of the problems we have witnessed in the planning portfolio in the last year or so. If we were to be more comprehensive and were to try and list all the problems, not only during the last year but during this minister’s reign, the list would go on and on.
Last year the government brought in DV306, despite significant community concern about the impact it would have on development in the ACT. Major industry groups and community councils all raised concerns about the effect of the variation. We heard from the MBA, the HIA, the Institute of Architects, the Institute of Landscape Architects, the Property Council and the Planning Institute, who all had serious reservations with DV306.
One of the reasons for that is that it stifles innovation. The government was warned repeatedly that if it passed, parts of it would be unworkable. However, the government stubbornly proceeded and have since had to roll back parts of the variation through amendments. The negative impact of DV306 was quickly felt when the government was unable to sell the land at Denman Prospect. Developers were so concerned about the impacts of DV306, they were not willing to buy that parcel of land for what the government wanted.
They wanted around $100 million. The price kept getting lower and lower and lower as people became more aware of the impact of DV306, until eventually it simply did not sell. Then, in true Labor government style, they decided to nationalise it and they are doing it themselves. This is a bad result for the territory. I repeat that it is a bad result for the territory. As I said last year, property is one of the most competitive sectors of our economy.
Yet this government arrogantly thinks it can do a better job than the professional private sector. When Denman Prospect failed to sell, the message to government should have been: what can we do to make this more attractive? How can we remove obstacles? Instead, the ACT Labor government took it as an opportunity to further taint the market.
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