Page 1002 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 24 March 2015

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video


The … Directorate should review and report to the Minister on the merits of … increasing penalties for a certifier’s non-compliance with relevant Acts and codes …

Increased penalties were implemented as part of the recent interim legislative amendments to the Building Act. This will also be included for assessment in the Building Act review changes for this year.

Recommendation 11 is:

The … Directorate should develop and implement a peer review quality control process for Development Application Merit Track assessments …

That has been implemented. A peer review checklist has been created and is required by the standard operating procedures to be implemented in circumstances where the decision-maker is the same as the assessing officer.

Recommendation 12 is:

The … Directorate should improve the transparency of its decision-making, by requiring that assessing officers document their considerations against key mandatory rules …

That has been implemented. Key mandatory rules have been identified in a single dwelling assessment report template for assessing officers.

Recommendation 13 is:

The … Directorate should redesign their ‘Controlled Activity’ notification letter …

That has been implemented. The current template letters have been reviewed and the letter that was the subject of the A-G’s recommendation, directed to lessees, has been substantially redrafted. It is now included on EPD’s Intelledox template system for future use.

The last one, recommendation 14, is:

The … Directorate should include risks relating to improper influence as part of its current review of its Risk Management Plan …

That has been implemented. Risks relating to improper influence have been included in the risk management plan along with a timetable for implementation.

I reiterate that I want to thank the Auditor-General for her work and also confirm that she found no evidence of improper influence being exerted on or by the ACT government assessing officers. Audits such as these are a great way for the ACT to learn how to continue to improve the planning system in the ACT. I thank the Auditor-General once again. I thank the committee for its recommendation, and we will respond more fully in the required time frame.


Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video