Page 2515 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 13 August 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
The estimates committee has recommended that the minister provide details of the failure to meet statutory deadlines for development applications. It will be interesting to see why the DA process is taking so long in some cases. However, knowing why the approval processes take so long is not the only answer. Until delays are actually dealt with through a simplification of the process, the minister should not feel that he has solved the problem.
The effect of unreasonable variation 306 continues to be felt in the construction sector. The variation was opposed by the Institute of Architects, the Institute of Landscape Architects, the Master Builders, the HIA, the Property Council, the Planning Institute and others, yet the government arrogantly decided to go ahead with it anyway. Some of the provisions have been rolled back in the last year but, if the government is serious about stimulating the construction industry, it should repeal the whole variation and start again.
The territory plan is an unnecessarily complicated and lengthy document, all 2½ thousand pages of it. Given its size, it is no surprise that builders and architects alike cannot understand or comprehend it. What hope of making sense of it do families wanting to extend or neighbours wanting to raise concerns have if even architects, builders and other professionals cannot make sense of the territory plan?
The only people, it seems, who understand the territory plan are the people at ACTPLA, and even they may struggle to keep on top of the couple of thousand pages of documents. Along with the Planning and Development Act, the building code and other associated legislation, it is simply cumbersome to navigate. What this does is concentrate all the power in the planning space within ACTPLA. Individual proponents can have their projects stopped at the whim of an ACTPLA official. When you have a document which is so complex, which is impossible to comply with fully, all the power rests with ACTPLA, because, quite frankly, if ACTPLA want to stop you, they can. There will be a technicality somewhere in the documents. There will be something in amongst the 2½ thousand pages of documents in the territory plan that will be able to stop any development.
This government continues to fail to consult with the community on changes to planning legislation and major projects. It is disappointing but not surprising when the government fails to listen to the community on projects like the brickworks and light rail. The estimates committee discussed in some detail the poor state of the ACT’s land release strategy. In fact, it is interesting that a majority of the estimates committee, composed of two Liberal and two Labor, endorsed the following:
The Committee recommends that in regard to land release in the ACT that the ACT … return to one third Land Development Agency … one third joint venture/one third private development.
This means, Madam Speaker, that at least one of the Labor members—and perhaps both on the committee—were not happy with the government’s monopoly supply of land through the LDA. Whoever did support that decision, whether it was Ms Berry or Ms Porter, is obviously quite justified in their view, because the private sector is more
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video