Page 3347 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 21 October 2014
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In conclusion, the opposition are pleased to support this bill today. It makes sensible changes to planning and building legislation which we hope will be good for the construction industry and all those who operate in and around it. We too commend the bill to the Assembly.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella—Minister for Planning, Minister for Community Services, Minister for Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations, Minister for Children and Young People and Minister for Ageing) (11.19), in reply: I am pleased to support the Planning, Building and Environment Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 (No 2) and I thank members for their contribution today and their support for this bill. This is the seventh bill, and the second bill for 2014, to be created under the government’s omnibus planning, building and environment legislation amendment process. I think I can say with some certainty that it is now a well-regarded, established process for minor policy and technical amendments of the planning, building and environment legislation in the territory and ensures such legislation is kept up to date and accurate in the most efficient way.
This bill was presented to the Assembly on 25 September this year. It proposes, as we have heard, editorial, technical, consequential and minor policy amendments to the Building Act 2004, the Building (General) Regulation 2008, the Planning and Development Act 2007 and the Planning and Development Regulation 2008.
The bill also responds to issues identified by the Environment and Planning Directorate, parliamentary counsel and the Auditor-General. The bill includes four minor policy amendments and, as you have heard, it amends the Building Act to require building certifiers to prepare a notice when issuing building approval for exempt development that explains why a development is considered to be exempt. And the bill amends the Planning and Development Act to allow the minister to make changes to a development approval decided under the call-in power. The bill also amends the notification requirements for an environmental significance opinion and notice of direct sale requirements in the Planning and Development Act.
I would now like to talk about the proposed minor policy amendments. The proposed Building Act amendments are being made to strengthen documentation requirements related to assessments by certifiers under the Building Act as to whether relevant development is exempt from the need to obtain development approval under the Planning and Development Act.
The proposed amendments will address concerns of the Auditor-General relating to the lack of documentation provided by certifiers when assessing the DA-exempt status of proposed site works. These concerns are set out in the performance audit report of the Auditor-General on single-dwelling development assessments of May 2014. In the report the Auditor-General suggested that a lack of documentation in some instances made it difficult to assess whether an accurate DA exemption assessment had been made by the certifier and recommended that a minimum level of documentation, such as a checklist, should be submitted by certifiers.
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