The Barr government has been urged to stop buying blocks of rural land across the ACT until an Auditor-General's report on a series of such purchases is released.
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It follows the government buying up two leases worth up to $10 million under the now defunct land Development Agency's questionable land acquisition policy in the agency's final days, despite the audit underway.
Those purchases are among a series of LDA-run rural land acquisitions the ACT's Auditor-General, Dr Maxine Cooper, has been investigating as part of an audit of such purchases going back to 2012.
The Legislative Assembly's planning and urban development committee, in a report on its annual report hearings held last year, on Tuesday recommended the government cease any rural land "significant acquisitions" until that report is tabled.
Since the audit began, the government bought Pine Ridge in Belconnen for $4.6 million and Winslade at Mount Stromlo for $7.5 million, settlements of which occurred after the Suburban Land Agency took over from the LDA, and in September last year, respectively.
It remains unclear why the government bought these properties under the former LDA's land acquisition policies, despite earlier promises to split the LDA into two agencies and address the policy in light of an earlier, scathing audit of LDA land deals.
Two other government rural land acquisitions, of Wintergarden and Ginninderry, were also examined during the committee's annual report hearings, as well as the lease back of Pine Ridge, Winslade, Wintergarden and Horse Park on "peppercorn leases" for 10 years.
The committee also made several other recommendations on issues highlighted during last year's hearings, including that those affected by Mr Fluffy asbestos were supported for the rest of the taskforce's program.
It also recommended the government make several changes to public notifications of development applications, including making historical applications available online, and allowing users of the main DA website be able to receive notifications in a specific area, similar to the DA Finder App V2.
The committee also urged the government to ensure future Territory Plan variations in town centres include controls on overshadowing, if not already explicitly stated.
Comment was sought from the government before filing.
