Page 726 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 8 April 2014

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Members interjecting—

MR BARR: It is not surprising. It reflects opposition for opposition’s sake. That is what we have seen from this party throughout the process, throughout their time in opposition.

Members interjecting—

MR BARR: You can normally tell when you get under their skin by the rapid-fire interjections. They sit there and listen quietly most of the time, but here we go. It is all three of them. There is the longest serving shadow treasurer in world history sitting there in position No 3, on his way down. There is the king in the north, Alistair Coe, Sir Alistair—

MADAM SPEAKER: I think you need to be directly relevant to the debate, Mr Barr.

MR BARR: He is sitting there, seeking, in an opportunistic way, to stifle what is a sensible way forward in this legislation.

We look forward to those Liberal philosophies that you outlined so eloquently in 2004—the Liberal policy and the Liberal belief that some projects are sufficiently important that third-party appeals are not necessary, are unwarranted, and get in the way of the progress of the territory.

I urge members to support this bill.

MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (10.45): There certainly are many challenges in being a Greens member of the government, and this bill has brought focus on some of these challenges.

Opposition members interjecting—

MR RATTENBURY: It took less than seven seconds for the interjections to start. There is a fine balance in trying to meet Greens principles such as sustainability, social justice and grassroots democracy simultaneously. It is challenging to create a planning system that ensures timeliness and ensures that grassroots democracy is being well serviced. One thing is certain: there is no such thing as a perfect planning system—legislation that caters for every scenario with maximum community input while delivering outcomes that all of the community wants.

Planning legislation is a complex area with layers of requirements to attend to the needs of safety, sustainability, human rights and, of course, a huge range of stakeholders with various goals. The challenge before me is to ensure that the government is able to deliver for the diverse needs of the community without severely compromising the needs of other parts of the community.

This legislation introduces five new processes into our planning legislation. There are two proposals that are quite a significant change to current process and that establish a


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