Page 1655 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 3 June 2014
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working days for an ordinary draft variation. Comments on the draft special variation must be available for public inspection in the same way that they are under the current provisions.
After the public consultation process has been completed, the Planning and Land Authority must present the draft special variation to the executive. This is different to the normal variation process where the draft variation is given to the minister. The executive may return the draft to the authority for further consultation. It may withdraw the variation or it may approve the variation.
This bill removes some important appeal rights. The bill removes the ability of third parties to seek ACAT merit reviews of decisions relating to the proposed Symonston mental health facility. It also removes the ability to appeal decisions in relation to the making of a special variation and the proposed facility under the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1989. Appeals to the Supreme Court under common law must be made within 60 days of the decision being made.
The opposition is very concerned that this bill is yet another example of this government trying to bypass proper processes in the planning space. This bill relates to the secure mental health facility, which the government wants to build on the old Quamby site at Symonston. The Canberra Liberals have previously supported the proposal to build the secure mental health facility. I would like to reiterate that we are aware of the need for a facility like this and have not objected to the choice of the site in Symonston. However, we have serious concerns about the process surrounding this project.
The government has been promising to build a secure mental health facility at Symonston since March 2010. On 17 March, the Minister for Health’s triumphant media release stated:
The former Quamby Youth Detention Centre site has been selected as the location for the ACT’s new 15 bed Secure Adult Mental Health Inpatient Unit, ACT Minister for Health Katy Gallagher announced today … This site selection process has concluded that the former Quamby site is the best location for the mental health facility because there is sufficient space, no major physical or social constraint, the site is centrally located and accessible to the Canberra Hospital.
So for years the site has been known. The details of the proposed facility have been slightly altered since the announcement of the site, but the land use remains the same. The land use requirement is exactly the same as it would have been back in 2010. The same zoning is required as would have been required in 2010. But the government has moved very slowly on this project. As we all know, the Assembly unanimously passed a motion calling on the government to proceed with the facility in August last year. It took three years for the government to get around to bringing a motion to the Assembly to tell us how important this project is; three years, Madam Deputy Speaker.
Even after the Assembly passed the motion calling on the government to get going on the project, it took until March this year for them to bring this legislation before the Assembly to enable the project. We all know what happened with this legislation. The
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