Page 2684 - Week 10 - Thursday, 15 October 1992
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Cultural Development Consultant
MR WOOD: Madam Speaker, I too have a response to a question asked by Mr Kaine, I think on Tuesday. He asked about the appointment of Mr Roy Forward. In response to Mr Kaine's question, the answer is no; Mr Forward has been contracted as a special adviser, cultural development, for a 12-month period. The duties of a special adviser are to provide policy advice on specific issues on a full-time basis for a given period and usually in an exclusive contractual relationship. As such, these contracts do not fall within the ambit of the Consultancy Review Committee. The Office of Public Service Management was informed of the engagement and approval from the Head of Administration was obtained.
CONSERVATION, HERITAGE AND ENVIRONMENT -
STANDING COMMITTEE
Report on the Environmental and Heritage Aspects of
Rural Leases - Government Response
MR WOOD (Minister for Education and Training, Minister for the Arts and Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning) (3.04): Madam Speaker, I present, for the information of members, the Government's response to report No. 5 of the First Assembly's Standing Committee on Conservation, Heritage and Environment entitled "Environmental and Heritage Aspects of Rural Leases in the ACT". I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the paper.
Madam Speaker, it gives me much pleasure to table the Government's response to this report which was tabled in the previous Assembly in December 1991. The report contains 38 recommendations and the Government's response gives its agreement to the great majority of those recommendations. For some time there has been concern among our rural lessees about aspects of rural land administration in the ACT. The Government's policies on rural land are clearly delineated in the response to this report. We propose to consult with rural lessees on the development of policies and guidelines for determining appropriate lease terms, and I am sure that our rural lessees and the community will gain considerable encouragement from our approach. In essence, the Government will move to define clearly areas of rural land that can be held under short-, medium- and long-term lease. Generally, short-term leases will be for less than 10 years; long-term leases will run for 25 to 50 years. Land will be identified as long-term rural land on the basis that it should be maintained in the foreseeable future for rural activities, and this will give lessees much greater security of tenure. Land will be classified into the other categories according to the likelihood of it being required for the ongoing growth of Canberra.
We are looking at more equitable arrangements for rural lessees, and this may require legislation to manage the compulsory acquisition of land by the Government. We will provide equitable compensation rights to lessees whose land is compulsorily acquired. Issues such as the withdrawal clauses in current rural leases - an area of great concern to lessees - will also be examined, particularly in respect of longer-term leases. Removing withdrawal clauses and utilising land acquisition legislation when necessary is a far more appropriate mechanism for those rural leases not likely to be required for government use in the long term.
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