Page 4069 - Week 13 - Thursday, 10 November 1994
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SMALL BUSINESS - DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION
Discussion of Matter of Public Importance
MADAM 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 many benefits to be gained by removing the unwarranted taxes, red tape and other impositions and restrictions which act as penalties on small business development and production in the ACT.
MR STEVENSON (3.23): "You are putting so many hurdles in front of small business today that small business can barely jump over them." That was said to me earlier today when I spoke to one of the many small business people in Canberra who find it difficult to survive in the economic climate which we have helped to create. Let me talk about what it takes to have a simple carport built in the ACT.
Mr Wood: It is a good example.
MR STEVENSON: Mr Wood says that it is a good example. I am talking about just four posts and a roof beside someone's house. It takes between two-and-a-half and three months to get that approved. I phoned up about getting a carport. The fellow said that he could come out today and give me a quote. I could have done the deal today. If I had, I would need to wait two-and-a-half to three months before I got the carport up.
Let us look at what actually happens. The builder or the engineer draws the plans for the carport and seeks siting approval from DELP. For 21 days a green sign has to be put at the front of the house where the carport is proposed to be built, and then a further 21 days is allowed for any appeals. During this time the person needs to advise all adjoining neighbours and, when all this is done, needs to sign a statutory declaration stating compliance. I am certainly not saying that there should not be some communication with neighbours. This law has been law for only a year. One person I spoke to said that he had been building garages and carports for 28 years. In all that time he had never heard of anybody making a complaint. In the past year he sent out some 3,000 letters to neighbours of various places where he proposed to put up carports or garages, and there were three objections. Two of them were dismissed and one resulted in a resiting of a garage on the property. They moved it a bit. That is a valuable thing to have. However, what we have takes an inordinate time. It should not take two-and-a-half to three months to get a simple carport put up outside a house. If I said that you could have a carport put up for $320, you would say, "Boy; that is a cheap carport". It is actually not the cost of the carport; it is the cost of the approval of the building plans in the ACT. In Queanbeyan the cost is $60 - a vast difference.
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