Legislative assembly for the australian capital territory
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Planning—variationsMR SMYTH: My question is to the Minister for Planning. Minister, the report on consultation for territory plan variation 347 shows that significant concerns were raised by nearby business owners, the National Trust and interested residents about the impact of future development on the Belconnen town centre and other surrounding retail and commercial areas. The recently approved territory plan variation will allow development to take place without developers having to pay the lease variation charge or comply with the multi-unit housing code. Minister, why is the government allowing the University of Canberra to unfairly compete with the private sector and other businesses? MADAM SPEAKER: I am sorry, Mr Smyth, I could not hear all of the question. Could you repeat the question? MR SMYTH: I can do it all again. MADAM SPEAKER: No, just the question. MR SMYTH: I can do it all again if you want me to. MADAM SPEAKER: No, it is all right. I got that bit. MR SMYTH: Minister, why is the government allowing the University of Canberra to unfairly compete with the private sector and other businesses? MR GENTLEMAN: I do not agree with the premise in Mr Smyth’s question. I do not believe that the government is allowing the university to compete unfairly with other businesses. It is a different scenario for the university and the work that it does for the territory. It is a learning institute and it is important that it is able to grow its institution through this variation. The government is very supportive of the university growing in the territory and, of course, bringing with it knowledge from other jurisdictions, including overseas, and the ability for it to have some income along with that. The opportunity at the university is completely different from the opportunities that we would see in the Belconnen town centre, and we want to ensure that the Belconnen town centre has the opportunity to grow. With that, we are going through the Belconnen master plan as we speak and looking at opportunities for the Belconnen town centre to grow as well. MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Smyth. MR SMYTH: Minister, how will allowing the University of Canberra to develop commercial office space help the Belconnen town centre? MR GENTLEMAN: It is about integration with Belconnen town centre around the UC. There are different opportunities, as I said in my first answer, for the University of Canberra. It will allow the university to bring some facilities along with it and help grow the university. We expect there will be job opportunities as well at the UC. MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Coe. MR COE: Minister, in the recent master planning process for Belconnen, why was the University of Canberra explicitly excluded from the boundary in which the master plan applied? MR GENTLEMAN: The boundary for the Belconnen town centre is for the town centre itself. It was not for the University of Canberra. MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Coe. MR COE: Minister, why is it appropriate to allow the University of Canberra to develop land without it being required to pay the lease variation charge as every other developer must? MR GENTLEMAN: The government provides incentive for developers to make changes in the territory. Out of those outcomes we expect the territory to grow. In this case, as I said in my first answer, it is about knowledge growth in the territory, and jobs growth as well. Schools—autismMR DOSZPOT: My question is to the Minister for Education and Training. Minister, regarding the report of the incident involving the boy in a cage at an ACT public school, given several deadlines have been announced as to when the report will be delivered and each deadline has been missed, can you provide the latest update on when the internal report into the incident of the cage-like structure erected in March in one ACT public school will be released, and will it be tabled in the Assembly? MS BURCH: For members’ interest, the investigation, as I understand it, has been concluded. I am awaiting the decision from the independent delegate. I will clarify that, as the director-general and I have said, this is, in many ways, an HR review. I will come back and provide to the broader community, including Assembly members, what I can. The community rightly has an interest in this matter, but as to whether I will put the entire HR review to you, Mr Doszpot, it is highly unlikely. MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Doszpot. MR DOSZPOT: Minister, will the terms of reference be made public when the report is released; and if not, why not? MS BURCH: With respect to part of that answer, I would ask you to refer to what I just said. Mr Doszpot, you asked that question around the terms of reference in the estimates committee and the Education and Training Directorate gave you an answer. The terms of reference will not be made public. The decision as to whether they are, post the conclusion and a decision by the delegate, is yet to be determined. MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Wall. MR WALL: Minister, is this particular incident the only such time that a structure has been erected in an ACT school? MS BURCH: It is the only one that I am aware of, and it is something that I find is of great concern to me, which is why, four months ago now, I brought it to attention. I did not hesitate once I was aware of it. I was clear on the actions that needed to happen to bring it into the public domain. I briefed Mr Doszpot then; I have offered him briefings since then. Every step along the way I have been very open about what I can say to the community. They can snigger over there, but let us be very clear: I have always said I want this completed in a timely manner but with regard to respect to the people involved. MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Wall. MR WALL: Minister, how can parents have confidence that such an incident will not be repeated? MS BURCH: I just signed today an MOU across Catholic, independent and government schools, and that was around transparency in an annual statement of assurance to all in our community that each and every one of our schools, government or non-government, complies with the relevant laws and obligations under the Education Act and the other parameters of being a registered school. I think that is a clear statement of the confidence that our community can have in all of our schools. 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