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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 8 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2328 ..
This bill also provides, at chapter 4, for the establishment of a separate land development agency, the function of which will be to undertake the development of land and strategic or complex urban development projects, and to carry out works related to the development of land. The bill also establishes a managing board and a chief executive officer to manage the affairs of the agency.
Mr Speaker, the agency board will be made up of the chairperson, deputy chairperson, and up to five other persons. The agency, which will be a corporation, will operate on a commercial basis and will have the ability to enter into partnerships or joint ventures. Again, the bill provides for the appointment of people with highly relevant skills and qualifications.
The Kingston Foreshore Development Authority and the Gungahlin Development Authority will eventually be absorbed into the new land development agency. The transition from the current authorities to the new agency will need to be managed carefully to ensure that the good work of the Kingston Foreshore Development Authority and the Gungahlin Development Authority are not compromised. I am confident, Mr Speaker, following initial discussions with those agencies, that this will be the case.
Approval of joint ventures and formation of corporations
It is the executive that will need to approve any joint ventures or corporations involving the Land Development Agency. That would be taken to mean the full executive or the Minister for Planning together with the Treasurer.Protocols between the authority and agency
It will be important for the authority and the Land Development Agency to communicate closely on policy matters. A series of statutory rules and protocols will underpin this working relationship as well as the various other relationships between the authority, council and the Land Development Agency. These will include the provision of an appropriate level of secretariat support for the council and the establishment of inter-agency coordination committees.Importantly, this bill contains a number of governance provisions that give recognition to the recommendations of the Auditor-General's report Governance Arrangements of Selected Statutory Authorities tabled in June this year. These provisions reflect best practice features of contemporary corporate governance. For example:
a chief executive may not be a chairperson of that organisation's board;
both the council and the Land Development Board must appoint a deputy chairperson;
there are provisions relating to a board on members' conflicts of interest; and
the bill includes a requirement to establish an audit committee and a governance charter for the land development agency.
The proposed Land Development Agency will also be required to prepare a statement of corporate governance and the chair of the board would be obliged to ensure that the agency complies with the statement.
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