Greens Minister Shane Rattenbury has thrown his support behind the government's fast-track planning regime for big projects despite it eliminating the role of the Tree Protection Act and Heritage Council in big projects.
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The Property Council also backed the new laws on Thursday, saying fast-track projects would bring a much-needed boost to a construction sector in the doldrums.
The new planning laws, which could be passed as early as the second week of next month, vastly truncates planning processes for big projects, which will go to the Assembly for approval and be available for public comment for 30 days, but bypass other standard planning rules. These projects cannot be appealed, and crucially for the Greens' constituency, the Tree Protection Act and the Heritage Act will not apply. Registered trees and declared historic sites will still be protected, but the legislation makes it clear that trees cannot be put up for protection or sites nominated for protection once a project has been declared.
Despite these provisions, Mr Rattenbury, a Greens minister in the Labor government, said he would support the laws since they were better than the existing "call-in" powers, which allow the minister to "call in" and approve a project, bypassing planning rules. A called-in project can be appealed to the tribunals and courts, but Mr Rattenbury said it was more honest to put a project before the Assembly.
"My view on balance is this is an improvement in transparency, and democracy for that matter, because at the moment this effect can be achieved by the minister making a call-in - and the minister can just do that and that's the end of the matter," he said. "At least this way there's a public consultation process before it goes into the fast-tracking program."
The new system would provide clarity and a more definite timeline for strategically important projects, he said, pointing to the planned mental health unit and the Gungahlin to the city light rail project.
He dismissed suggestions it could be used also for the Uriarra solar farm, which is strongly opposed by the local community. The solar farm was not a big enough project to come under the bill, he said.
While the new regime excludes the Heritage Act from operation in declared projects, Mr Rattenbury says that it preserves the integrity of the act, which the government had planned to amend. The government had planned to extend call-in powers to the Heritage Act, but is no longer pursuing that, agreeing with Mr Rattenbury's request to abandon it in light of the new bill.
Property Council executive director Catherine Carter said the laws would allow quick approval for propriety projects and bring confidence and activity to the construction sector, which was the biggest private employer in the territory. Commercial construction had basically ceased, she said, with federal budget and staff cuts, lower demand and the end of a natural property cycle.
"There's no commercial construction happening at the moment of any note whatsoever," she said. "But what provides stimulus into the territory at the moment is government infrastructure projects, particularly capital metro."
She rejected criticism that the new laws would bring planning too close to the political sphere, saying the Assembly would provide the safeguards. She also welcomed changes that will allow developers to lodge a development application at the same time as a change to the Territory Plan, and lodge an Environmental Impact Statement at the same time as a development application.