Page 2514 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 13 August 2014

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The Assembly voted—

Question so resolved in the negative.

Mr Smyth: On a point of order, Madam Speaker, I seek leave to move that all standing orders be suspended that would prevent Ms Lawder making a brief statement about events that have occurred in the last—

MADAM SPEAKER: I am sorry, that offends the same-question rule, Mr Smyth. We have just resolved that question.

Environment and Planning Directorate—Schedule 1A, Part 1.11—$72,452,000 (net cost of outputs), $5,914,000 (capital injection), $1,852,000 (payments on behalf of Territory), totalling $80,218,000.

MR COE (Ginninderra) (5.49): As tempting as it is to speak on other matters at hand, I will talk about the expenditure of many millions of dollars with regard to the planning of our future. Of course, the portfolio is a very important one in the territory, and, once again, we have a new Minister for Planning. Mr Corbell, again, has been relieved of his responsibility for planning, perhaps the catalyst being the Planning and Development (Project Facilitation) Amendment Bill 2014, the bill that was to give Minister Corbell the power to approve any development anywhere. Understandably, it was overwhelmingly rejected by the community, and the Chief Minister was forced, in an embarrassing way, to tap Mr Corbell on the shoulder.

The bill would have given the government the power to build whatever it wanted wherever it wanted by simply calling it a special project. The community was rightly incensed by this attempt to remove any requirement for the government to properly consult. Every single witness and every single submission to the planning committee’s inquiry slammed the bill, but the new Minister for Planning, Mr Gentleman, went against public opinion and backed the bill. He backed Mr Corbell. So, despite Minister Corbell being relieved of his duties, perhaps in part because of the project facilitation bill, Minister Gentleman was right behind Mr Corbell with regard to that bill. So we are getting like for like. We have a new minister who believes that the government should have the power to build whatever it wants, wherever it wants, whenever it wants simply if it calls it a special precinct.

The construction industry in the ACT is currently under severe pressure. The government continues to subject the industry to red tape and excessive regulation. The government is making it hard for businesses and individuals through significant delays in the development process. Slow processing and approval times hold up developments and cost people real money.

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