Page 3019 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 23 September 2014
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in areas like climate change or water, matters that should have been inserted into the legislation in the first place. To then see the commonwealth further step away from that is a cause of great concern.
But what I can say is that here in the ACT we have taken a very different approach to the other states. We have maintained the architecture that will ensure an ongoing federal government role, an ability for the federal government to veto poor decisions and to have that matter of that perspective of national and international significance. On that basis the Greens will vote for this legislation today.
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (10.48): There are various different offset schemes already being widely used across Australia, including here in the ACT. In the ACT most proposals arise to mitigate the impacts of ongoing urban development and expansion on ecological values rather than mining or other resource-based industries, as we see is the case in most other jurisdictions. The ACT biodiversity offsets framework delivers an improvement on how offsets have been delivered in the past. Increased transparency given to the public by including the offsets register is a positive thing, but I do have some concerns regarding how the offsets framework will apply practically.
The planning and development bill as it stands currently does not include a public submission period for public or stakeholder input into the draft offset management plans, and we had been hopeful that perhaps debate on the bill would be adjourned today to give us the opportunity to present an amendment on Thursday. However, it does not appear that that is going to be the case; so we will be supporting the bill today.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for the Environment and Minister for Capital Metro) (10.49): I am pleased to speak in support of the Planning and Development Bilateral Agreement Amendment Bill, which will amend the Planning and Development Act 2007. The bill will enable the ACT to enter into a one-stop shop for environmental approvals with the commonwealth government, which aims to reduce regulatory burden for development while maintaining high environmental standards. The bill will also improve existing processes under the Planning and Development Act and provide for greater public transparency and more robust decision-making for environmental assessments and approvals in the ACT.
Under a one-stop shop, the ACT will consider projects that are likely to have significant impacts on matters of national environmental significance as defined by the commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. This will streamline the process for proponents, who will only have to go through one process with a single point of contact. As was outlined by my colleague Mr Gentleman, this arrangement will remove duplication and lead to time and cost savings for proponents.
In support of the introduction of this bill, I would like to highlight some of the important features of it which will support a one-stop shop for environmental approvals. One of the major benefits of this bill is that it will introduce the concept of
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