Page 2471 - Week 08 - Thursday, 6 August 2015
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most often comes up in light of development decisions. We are lucky to live in a highly planned city and we are lucky to have a range of excellent amenities in our suburbs. I think it is for that reason, as the population grows and Canberra changes, that some of these issues really do come to the fore.
When it comes to planning decisions, as I say, getting engaged early is perhaps where you can make community consultation most effective, because at that point a developer has not locked themselves in to a particular pathway and there is more scope for change. And that, I think, is when things work best.
The Greens have certainly tried to carry that forward into this place on a number of occasions. For example, we developed legislation to try and improve Canberra’s planning system through our planning notification bill, which was debated in the Assembly in 2010. The bill would have ensured that when ACTPLA notifies the public about development proposals they are accurately described.
It also would have allowed ACTPLA and ACAT to consider a broad range of issues when reviewing DA decisions such as territory plan zoning and objectives. It would also have increased standing so that community members were better able to appeal DA decisions. The Greens were very disappointed that neither the Labor Party nor the Liberal Party supported this bill that would have improved planning outcomes for people in the community like Mr Hanson.
It is worth reflecting on this, because we have just heard Mr Hanson stand up and rattle off a whole series of examples, but the fact is that when we brought this legislation before the Assembly in 2010—and Mr Hanson was a member of this place at that time—he voted against that legislation. He had a chance to support improved community consultation. You can give all the speeches you like in this place, but what really counts is how you vote. And when it came to that, Mr Hanson voted against these measures. He voted against them.
I have never met one person so willing to say one thing and do something different when it is politically expedient for them. But that is the story of Mr Hanson’s track record in this place, voting against these sorts of measures when he was given a concrete opportunity to vote with the Greens on a range of measures that would have improved planning laws in this town and improve community consultation and notification. But he voted against them. It is worth making that point in light of the tirade he just delivered in this place today.
Mr Hanson: You are a bit sensitive, aren’t you?
MR RATTENBURY: No. It is just about putting the facts on the table, Mr Hanson. It is about what you do, not what you say. And it is worth reflecting on that, because you cannot just stand up here and say what you like and conveniently forget the things that you actually did when you had the opportunity to make a difference.
Members interjecting—
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