Page 1076 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 May 2020
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MR GENTLEMAN: I will have to take the detail of that on notice but I can advise that those that are in impact track require additional consultation, and more often, with other parts of the ACT government, other directorates and agencies and also with the public.
MISS C BURCH: Minister, what action will you take to consult with industry to ensure that development applications are properly completed to speed up processes and will you commit to reporting back in the next sitting of this chamber on the actions you have taken to expedite impact track categories?
MR GENTLEMAN: We meet with industry regularly. I meet personally with the Property Council and their members on a regular basis. Our planning group meets with PACICERG, which is the group that represents planners across the ACT and those in the housing industry as well. I regularly attend their meetings. We take on board their comments and, indeed, we have acted on them in the past and will into the future.
In regard to reporting back on actions that will occur in the not-too-distant future, I am not sure if I can do that before the next sitting. Because of COVID restrictions we tend to do many of these new meetings online wherever possible that fits into not only my diary and those of the planning officials but also the industry officials as well.
Clubs—COVID-19
MR PARTON: My question is to the Minister for Health. Minister, why are community clubs with multiple restaurants, such as the Hellenic Club in Woden and the Woden Southern Cross Club, only allowed to provide meals to a total of 10 people at any one time rather than 10 people per restaurant?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Mr Parton for the question. As we have said multiple times, we are guided, in the decisions that are made in relation to the directions, by the Chief Health Officer. In fact, she is the person who makes the public health directions that guide what are non-essential services and how services are able to operate in response to the public health emergency. We have been operating in line with the national cabinet’s three-step framework towards a COVID-safe Australia. As the Chief Minister has previously indicated, further decisions in relation to that, and further announcements, will be made on 29 May, with an expectation that those step 2 changes would be considered from midnight on 29 May, effectively from Saturday, 30 May.
In response to Mr Parton’s particular question, I would note—and the Chief Minister made this clear in announcing the new arrangements for cafes and restaurants of a maximum of 10 patrons not having takeaway—that for most cafes and restaurants this would not be an economically viable proposition. While I take the point that Mr Parton is making, I do not believe that having 10 people per restaurant in these large venues would necessarily be particularly economically viable for them. I can assure him that this is a matter that the Chief Health Officer is considering and we are currently awaiting some further advice in a formal way from the Chief Health Officer around what those next steps will be.
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