Page 4692 - Week 12 - Thursday, 1 November 2018
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requirements that amount to unnecessary red tape, an additional call on limited resources for little or no purpose. The government is also mindful that the required public reports should be clear and focused and not made impenetrable by including information of little immediate interest to the wider community. Finally, the government is mindful that the bill should make effective provision for the protection of privacy. With these aims in mind, I turn to some of the key features of the amendments proposed by the government.
The government amendments will ensure that reports focus on land acquisitions that are relatively significant. To this end, government amendment No 4, a new section 6(2), would exclude the transfer of land between government agencies. These are administrative in nature and have no significant financial implications to the territory. Collating and reporting on these day-to-day transactions would involve resources for little purpose.
Government amendments will also not require reporting on the acquisition of interests in land such as easements, temporary easements and licences to occupy. This is the effect of government amendment No 4, new section 6A(3)(b). The original bill would require extensive reporting on matters such as temporary easements or access to building sites and easements created for utility services in a new estate. Reporting on these and similar would require resources to little purpose and, just as importantly, would result in public reports that are confusing and lack focus.
The government amendments leave open the possibility of adding to the list of reportable acquisitions through regulation. This is set out in the regulation power in the new sections 6A(2) and 6A(3). To this end, the government will support Mr Coe’s amendments to delay commencement of this easement provision to 1 July 2019, consistent with the government’s proposed transition period for the application of the act to Icon Water.
Relevant also to the scope of the bill is the types of government agencies to which the bill will apply. Under government amendment No 2 the University of Canberra would be excluded from the act. This recognises the fact that the university operates in a commercial environment with a degree of independence from central government in its day-to-day operations. The government amendment will, however, apply to territory-owned corporations, that is, Icon Water. This is in recognition of the level of interest in land acquisitions by entities of this type. The proposed amendments will allow an additional six-month transition period to afford Icon Water the time to consider the new requirements in the context of their commercial environment and set up systems for implementation.
I will now turn to the required content of the reports. The government amendments will require reporting on particulars of the land, the identity of the acquiring government agency, the identity of the entity from whom the land was acquired, the method of acquisition and the price paid. This will apply to all land acquisitions, including acquisitions that must be reported under the Lands Acquisition Act.
For relatively significant land acquisitions the government amendments will require reporting on additional matters. This includes providing copies of all valuations used
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