Page 2665 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 15 August 2017
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ongoing issue for about the past four years. We are pleased to see that the government is continuing on that.
Unfortunately, there is much more that Access Canberra needs to do. I specifically would like to highlight in the building area responding to complaints and then actually doing enforcement actions on the worst breaches. I have brought up some of the worst breaches in the annual reports and estimates process. I anticipate, unfortunately, being in the position of having to do things like that again.
It seems that there are very few, if any, instances where the ACT government actually goes to enforcing breaches in the planning area or, in fact, in the general areas. I think it is very important that with some of the more egregious breaches of our building regulations, where things have been built a couple of metres higher than the approval was given for, we actually start taking some enforcement action. It is just not good enough. I think it would be very good for the building industry if a clear message was sent that you have to do the right thing. If you do not, there are consequences.
On a more positive note, though, the estimates committee heard about the government’s responsible investment process. As someone who has had many years of professional experience in responsible and ethical investment and as someone who chaired the public accounts committee inquiry into the possibility of government ethical investment in the Seventh Assembly, I am incredibly pleased at the progress that has been made on this. It is much more than I had realised from the outside. We are now actually voting our shares. We are being responsible shareholders and we are voting our shares at annual general meetings. In some instances we not voting in support of management, which is what has happened in the past.
I asked questions about Oil Search. There have been some motions about greenhouse emissions. I was really pleased that we voted, as I would call it, on the side of the angels. I am also very pleased that we have been reducing investment in fossil fuels as well as doing the things that were agreed on specifically—for example, in respect of cluster bombs and tobacco—in the agreement. I am glad to see that the use of fossil fuels is also reducing.
I will talk about a few areas where the Greens are more concerned. The Greens have supported the move in taxation reform to reduce reliance on stamp duty and to transit into rates. But I think this is an area where we need to look carefully at what issues may be coming from this. While I do not totally agree with the Leader of the Opposition’s comments, I think this is somewhere where we do need to consider all the issues relating to the rates changes. There are some concessions on rates and we need to look carefully at how these are being implemented.
Another area of revenue that I think we need to look at, because it has not been well thought out, is the lease variation charge changes. Moving from $7,500 or $5,000 per unit to $30,000 per unit in one go with no consultation and no warning is poor policy at the least, regardless of the impact of these particular changes. To have so little consultation is really not on.
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