Ms LAWRIE - 2012-10-23
Almost incomprehensible!
During the campaign you had a five-point action plan. Your fourth point was to plan properly for the future of the Northern Territory, yet you have doubled red tape by setting up a planning commission, appointed your mate from interstate without an expression of interest as promised in your 100-day plan, put the My New Home scheme on hold, and your solution to let people buy their own home is to build 2000 homes for people to rent with no mention of where your next land release will be.
Where is the Greater Darwin Strategic Land Use Plan, why have you not gazetted it, and how does any of this plan properly for the future of the Northern Territory?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, an interesting question from the Opposition Leader. I thank her once again for the question.
This is the first session of parliament. We have been in government for two months. We have already commenced structural change in the department to ensure we have swifter decision-making. We have legislation which will be introduced in this parliament to establish the planning commission. If you want to criticise the planning commission you had better attend the community forums with the stakeholders who are breathing a sigh of relief that there is now a government which takes long-term strategic planning seriously and will put a system in place to get the show on the road.
Regarding the My New Home scheme, it was viewed by anyone asked, who had a legitimate claim on questioning the capacity of the scheme to deal with the problem, as questionable financially.
We are here for the long haul and will govern properly. We will put schemes in which work. You will find it embarrassing that the approach you have taken has added to the problem because you have been feeding the demand for housing and not addressed supply.
With a properly working planning commission with long-term strategic plans in place, the Development Consent Authority can then do its work. I am not going to pre-empt this, but there will be a much more effective scheme.
Most telling, as the former Treasurer, is that your Treasury was not asked for advice on the capacity of your scheme to fix the problem. That is quite telling. It was a crafted, political response to what you saw as a political problem and has left us with a monumental mess, but we will fix it.
During the campaign you had a five-point action plan. Your fourth point was to plan properly for the future of the Northern Territory, yet you have doubled red tape by setting up a planning commission, appointed your mate from interstate without an expression of interest as promised in your 100-day plan, put the My New Home scheme on hold, and your solution to let people buy their own home is to build 2000 homes for people to rent with no mention of where your next land release will be.
Where is the Greater Darwin Strategic Land Use Plan, why have you not gazetted it, and how does any of this plan properly for the future of the Northern Territory?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, an interesting question from the Opposition Leader. I thank her once again for the question.
This is the first session of parliament. We have been in government for two months. We have already commenced structural change in the department to ensure we have swifter decision-making. We have legislation which will be introduced in this parliament to establish the planning commission. If you want to criticise the planning commission you had better attend the community forums with the stakeholders who are breathing a sigh of relief that there is now a government which takes long-term strategic planning seriously and will put a system in place to get the show on the road.
Regarding the My New Home scheme, it was viewed by anyone asked, who had a legitimate claim on questioning the capacity of the scheme to deal with the problem, as questionable financially.
We are here for the long haul and will govern properly. We will put schemes in which work. You will find it embarrassing that the approach you have taken has added to the problem because you have been feeding the demand for housing and not addressed supply.
With a properly working planning commission with long-term strategic plans in place, the Development Consent Authority can then do its work. I am not going to pre-empt this, but there will be a much more effective scheme.
Most telling, as the former Treasurer, is that your Treasury was not asked for advice on the capacity of your scheme to fix the problem. That is quite telling. It was a crafted, political response to what you saw as a political problem and has left us with a monumental mess, but we will fix it.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016