Page 520 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 20 February 1991
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This Government has also undertaken to put up all such matters for debate in the Assembly. It is in this context that I make this statement; but, in light of the urgency of the matter, during the Assembly break I informed members and gave the ACT Government's support to Australian accession. Naturally, we should fully support this particular convention. I table the following paper:
Hague convention abolishing the requirement of legalisation for foreign public documents - Text and report, dated 5 October 1986.
I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the paper.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
BUILDING APPROVALS
Discussion of Matter of Public Importance
MR SPEAKER: I have received a letter from Mr Stevenson proposing that a matter of public importance be submitted to the Assembly for discussion, namely:
The concern by residents of Calwell and other suburbs at the inappropriate building approvals which have been granted for some dwellings in Calwell.
MR STEVENSON (3.22): This is a matter of public importance, particularly for residents of Calwell, and for Canberrans as a whole. It is important to anyone who is concerned about planning approvals and living in Canberra, the sort of community we live in and how it is planned. Very simply, it concerns a number of residents of Calwell who invested a great deal of money and built houses on blocks of land that were quite expensive, mainly because they offered excellent views.
Building approvals have been given for three dwellings to be built behind those properties on the down side of the hill that will effectively greatly reduce or block out the views from the properties above. The approvals for those buildings are obviously in clear breach of the spirit of the planning regulations. There also appear to be a number of cases where they are in breach of the actual policies and regulations.
The regulations that are mainly used in this area are the NCDC regulations from 1973. A particular document is somewhat ambiguous in its definition of an amenity. It refers to those qualities or conditions associated with a site or locality that are conducive to its better enjoyment for any permitted use. The policies' objectives were to provide for:
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