Page 2128 - Week 07 - Thursday, 20 August 2020
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This clause, if it were passed in its original form, would pretty much stop all development in the ACT. That, of course, has come in recent days from Master Builders, HIA and the Property Council, but it has also come from the chief planner. Such was the dismay of Labor in regard to the debate on this bill that I was given access to the chief planner for an extensive one-on-one. He was certainly of the belief that if we passed this clause in its original form it would be very difficult for him to approve any development.
We care about jobs, and we always will. The appearance of this clause in Ms Le Couteur’s legacy bill is absolute proof that she and her party do not care about jobs at all. The Housing Industry Association stated:
The middle of a pandemic and the looming worst recession in a century is not the time to be indulging in this sort of policy nonsense.
It is hard to understand any member of the Assembly pursuing policies that adds costs to families, and puts home ownership further out of reach of ordinary Canberrans.
And, of course, as I said earlier, it risks so many jobs. At a time when we as a city desperately need to do whatever we can to keep our construction industry going, the Greens have come here with a bill that would shut it down. We cannot and will not support that.
Clause 13 negatived.
Clause 14.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella—Manager of Government Business, Minister for Advanced Technology and Space Industries, Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Minister for Planning and Land Management, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister for Urban Renewal) (5.15): I have already spoken to this clause, Madam Speaker.
MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (5.15): This clause covers the second of three ways in which this bill addresses climate change. It will ensure that the greenhouse gas emissions emitted by a development are considered during the assessment of an impact track development application. It does so by introducing a requirement to consider the impact of the development on the ability of the ACT to meet our targets for greenhouse gas emissions under the Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act 2010. The situation for this will be the same as for the previous amendment.
I will make some small comments about Mr Parton’s remarks. As they say, there are no jobs on a dead planet. We have to look at the long term. We have to look at the environmental impact of what we are doing. It cannot be about jobs at any price, and it cannot be about construction at any price. We have to build things that will work for the long term, for our kids, not just for short-term jobs.
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