The ACT government will advertise on Friday for experts to fill 10 spots on its new land-development boards.
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The Land Development Agency is being disbanded and will be replaced on July 1 with two agencies - a City Renewal Authority and a Suburban Land Agency.
The government is appointing five board members to each, and is looking nationally for the expertise.
The government will introduce legislation on Thursday to disband the Land Development Agency and set up the new groups, and Chief Minister Andrew Barr has confirmed that recruitment has begun. The government was casting a nationwide net and national advertisements would run from Friday.
He said the priority was "excellent governance led by expert boards".
Each board would have five members. The government was looking for experts in:
- Law, public administration and governance
- Architecture and design
- Major project financing
- Urban development and renewal and estate development
- Sustainability
- Engineering
- Community building and social inclusion
- Governance and public administration
The government had no preference for people from interstate or Canberra.
Mr Barr is abolishing the agency in the wake of a highly critical audit report last year into a series of controversial land purchases at Glebe Park and West Basin.
The agency has also been beset by controversy over the price of land, with some accusing it of manipulating land prices to maximise profits and so contributing to the housing affordability crisis.
The new Suburban Land Agency will be responsible for building new suburbs, and the City Renewal Authority for development in a Northbourne corridor precinct, the city centre and around the lake.
The Land Development Agency board is chaired by Ross Barrett, a civil engineer whose company is Woden Contractors. The other members are former managing director of Colliers real estate agency Jim Shonk, Chris Purdon, owner of consultants Purdon Planning with her husband Rob Purdon and the Dexar group, architect Yvonne von Hartel of Peckvonhartel, lawyer and businessman Con Kourpanidis, ANZ economist Cherelle Murphy and public servant Sandra Lambert.
The board's oversight of almost $7 million of City to the Lake land purchases in 2015 was criticised by Auditor-General Maxine Cooper, who said that, contrary to the land acquisition rules, none of the purchases had been approved by the board, including $4.2 million paid to the owners of land in Glebe Park and almost $3 million to boat and bike hire businesses at West Basin.
The land acquisition rules say all purchases up to $5 million must go to the board. But in August 2015, the board agreed to a new "interpretation" of the rules, which limited the acquisitions that must go to the board - and the agency argued that the City to the Lake purchases did not need to go to the board under its new interpretation of the rules. Dr Cooper's report said the board's decision to limit the kinds of acquisitions it must approve also meant that certain acquisitions would not be counted against the $20 million annual ceiling for acquisitions.
She sought advice from the Australian government solicitor, who advised that the board's endorsement of the new interpretation was incorrect.There was nothing in the land aquisition policy that allowed the board any discretion to depart from the requirement for board approval for land purchases, the solicitor advised.
