Page 356 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 14 February 2017
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legislation. In any event, it is a positive and practical measure to keep the community informed.
The Planning and Land Authority must also adhere to the Information Privacy Act 2014, including through implementing its privacy policy, to make sure that personal information is protected from unauthorised disclosure. The Planning and Development Act also contains a number of safeguards around the use and release of personal information.
The final amendments I would like to discuss are made to sections 1.100A and 1.100AB of schedule 1 of the Planning and Development Regulation 2008. These sections relate to matters that are exempt from development approval. They allow the Planning and Land Authority to make an exemption declaration which states that a dwelling or alteration does not stop being an exempt development because of a minor non-compliance with the rules identified in the declaration. Exemption declarations allow some non-compliant developments to remain exempt where the non-compliance is minor and reasonable. For example, the corner of a garage encroaching beyond the building envelope when it has a minor impact may be eligible for an exemption declaration.
The amendment inserts a note into sections 1.100A and 1.100AB to make it clear that an exemption declaration cannot be granted in respect of a rule that is described as mandatory within a development code. This note confirms that exemption declarations cannot be given for mandatory rules because this would make the declaration inconsistent with the Planning and Development Act and the relevant code in the Territory Plan. This amendment does not change the law but makes its operation more immediately clear. The notes inserted by clauses 23 and 24 of the bill seek to remove the confusion that relates to exemption declarations and mandatory rules and provide a clear way forward for how the provisions operate.
Today I have provided three examples of the technical and editorial amendments contained in the bill. These examples are indicative of the other amendments contained in the bill and demonstrate that the changes are appropriate for an omnibus bill and make good practical sense. This bill reflects the government’s effective and responsible use of the omnibus bill process to ensure that legislation is accessible to the community, easily understandable and the intent of provisions is clear. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (11.36): As previous speakers have said, this bill makes minor positive amendments to the planning, building and environment legislation. Part of it relates to renewable energy, and my colleague Mr Rattenbury will speak to that part of the bill. I will speak briefly about the planning parts and, in particular, the changes in requirements for pre-DA consultation. I am particularly interested in that because I was significantly involved in the original legislation which led to this.
I can definitely say that this is fixing an oversight or an error: no-one really thought the 5,000 square metres could be in a number of different dwellings or different
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