Page 1656 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 3 June 2014
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government was forced to withdraw the project facilitation bill after the community uproar over the sham consultation and the extensive powers the bill would have given the minister.
After the withdrawal of that bill, the government brought this current bill to the Assembly, claiming that this project is urgent and that the usual planning processes must be set aside to ensure it is completed quickly. In the four years since the project was announced and the site was selected, the government has not taken the necessary steps to amend the territory plan so that the project can go ahead. The government should have gone through the normal planning processes of making a variation to the territory plan while giving the community sufficient opportunities to respond to the draft variation.
Instead, the government has decided that this project is now urgent when it has not been for the previous four years and that it needs special legislation to ensure it happens. Why is it urgent now, Madam Deputy Speaker? Why did the government not follow proper processes four years ago or at any point over the last four years? If the project was so important to the government, the process of amending the territory plan should have started four years ago. Even allowing time for community consultation and appeals to be worked through, the facility should have been well on the way to completion, if not already finished by now.
The bill is not really about the mental health facility. It is about the government setting aside planning laws. Once proper processes have been set aside, what is stopping the government from doing it again? What will be the next urgent project? Will the government bring a special variation to cover the Uriarra solar farm? What about Northbourne Avenue and the government’s grand light rail project? Where will it stop, Madam Deputy Speaker?
If the government feels that the current planning system cannot handle the proposed mental health facility in Symonston, then maybe it is time for an overhaul of the system. If not, then the government should work within the system rather than trying to remove the rules when they are too hard to follow or when they simply waited too long. The opposition will continue to hold this government to account for its blatant disregard for proper processes, especially in the planning space. For this reason, we will be opposing the Planning and Development (Symonston Mental Health Facility) Amendment Bill 2014.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (11.22): This bill is a continuation of the motion passed unanimously by the Assembly last year where we agreed to fast-track the secure mental health facility in Symonston and agreed to consider project-specific legislation to expedite the construction process. As all members of the Assembly did, the Greens supported that motion last August and we will be supporting this bill today. This is clearly a project that requires focused and targeted support and that deserves the full attention of the Assembly.
The secure adult mental health facility is a key item in the 2012 Labor-Greens parliamentary agreement because in signing the document we recognised that it is an important element in the ACT’s range of options for meeting the complex needs of
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