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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 1 Hansard (30 January) . . Page.. 26 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

A key achievement has been the establishment of a joint information and advisory service on insurance, building and construction. This commenced operation at the Lyons recovery centre on 23 January. This service provides information and advice to people whose properties have been destroyed or damaged by the fires. Through face-to-face interviews with representatives of PALM, the building industry and the insurance industry, the service has already provided advice to over 300 affected property owners.

The service provides the latest information on demolition and site clearance; building approvals; planning, construction and insurance issues; and other technical matters. Copies of the building plans for all affected properties have been retrieved from archives and are available, free of charge, to lessees. That is a very important service for people seeking to rebuild their homes.

A fact sheet has been released-a guide on how to return safely to properties, undertake initial clean-up, replace lost documents, and so on. A second fact sheet, which will include more specific advice on demolition and development and building approval processes, is being finalised.

The importance of reliable data has been identified as a high priority by the property assessment and recovery team. Data on destroyed and damaged properties has been collected by many agencies, principally, the Fire Brigade and the Australian Federal Police. This data is being consolidated into a database based on the existing PALM database and will provide a critical resource for government and the broader community. For example, a database of uninhabitable properties was provided to the recovery centre to assist in the process of identifying households eligible for the government's $5,000 and $10,000 assistance grants.

Clearly, the process of rebuilding will be enormous. To facilitate the rebuilding, PALM has undertaken a review aimed at streamlining demolition and building approval processes for bushfire affected properties.

In my absence earlier this week, the acting Minister for Planning, Mr Quinlan, agreed in principle to the drafting of a special regulation relating to demolition. A statement of demolition processes has been issued, and regulations for special development and building approval arrangements to ensure that the process is as streamlined as possible should be put forward for my consideration shortly.

It was clear from the outset that the clean-up task would be huge. The Canberra bushfire recovery task force, along with Bovis Lend Lease, will co-ordinate project management for the demolition and clean-up of properties affected by the fires. Teams of building surveyors and structural engineers are also continuing to assess damaged properties.

The big question now is: how long will this take? I am advised that Canberra builders will be able to manage the rebuilding but that we will almost certainly require additional tradespeople from interstate. Manufacturers of building materials have advised that sufficient supplies should be available. I am advised that initial targets are to have 45 per cent of housing reconstructed by Christmas and 80 per cent by the middle of next year.

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