Page 3411 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 18 September 2013

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Omit all words after “That this Assembly”, substitute:

“notes:

(1) that the ACT Government has established a strategic framework for the long term future of our city as articulated in the ACT Planning Strategy and Transport for Canberra, both adopted and released last year, and guiding growth and development through to 2030;

(2) that comprehensive shorter and medium term development actions are being developed through a co-ordinated framework of plans and strategies such as the City Plan and City to the Lake;

(3) that the Government has begun the process of progressing our city towards a sustainable future by undertaking such transformative projects as the Capital Metro light rail;

(4) that the Government has already undertaken to review the Territory Plan so that it is consistent with our 40% greenhouse gas reduction target; and

(5) that the redevelopment proposed through DV308 is consistent with the intentions of the ACT Planning Strategy.”.

MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (5.51): In broad, I will be supporting Mr Corbell’s amendment today, and I do not agree with the sentiments of Mr Coe’s motion. I will speak to some of the matters in detail, but I fundamentally see it differently to the way Mr Coe has described it in his motion today. I do not believe the community has lost confidence in the planning system. That is not to say there are not people who have disagreements and there are not areas that can be improved, but to go as far as Mr Coe has is really stretching it. Nobody would argue that it is not complex. Certainly all of us at times struggle with the planning system and the intricacy of the rules that have been put in place to try and draw that fair balance between the competing interests in the planning system. But I do not think that it is ad hoc. I think some clear strategic directions are being developed here in the ACT, and, no doubt, those will continue to be refined and improved. It is far from the situation Mr Coe has described. In some ways it reads as though Mr Coe is arguing for more comprehensive regulations. If there are areas where he would like to consider further changes, I would certainly be open to that conversation.

Let me turn to some of the specifics outlined in Mr Coe’s motion. When it comes to the ACT planning system, a lot of work has been done in recent years to establish the strategic framework of the development of our city. At a big-picture level, the ACT planning strategy and transport for Canberra have been developed to guide the direction of growth and development and to steer us on the path towards a more sustainable future.

There has also been a process of reforming the planning regulations through the development of the Planning and Development Act, which was finalised in 2007 with the changes in the territory plan to incorporate codes and guidelines and then the review of the various zoning types. So I think a lot of work has been done, and


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