DEVELOPMENT (CONTROL OF EXTERNAL PAINTING) AMENDMENT BILL

Committee Stage

In committee.

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS: Mr Chairman, I draw your attention to the state of the committee.

A quorum having been formed:

The CHAIRMAN: I remind honourable members that we have a long day ahead of us. If you know you are speaking on something, try to be in the chamber when it is called on.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The CHAIRMAN: Order! Does the Hon. Mr Ridgway want to make a contribution to clause 1?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I would just like to explain, Mr Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN: It was not a message just for the Hon. Mr Ridgway; it was meant for everyone.

Clause 1.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: The member for Light proposed this bill, which was a little strange at the time, because it is an amendment to the Development Act, and we have the minister in this chamber and I am the shadow minister, yet this was introduced in the House of Assembly. We were quite bemused that that was the case. I am a bit disappointed that we indicated that we would not support it, and the advice from the LGA was that it did not support the bill. Then the member for Light put out a press release in his electorate bagging the Liberal Party for opposing his bill.

The responsibility for the bill's carriage lay with the Hon. Ian Hunter who, only about two weeks ago, requested a vote. Clearly, the member for Light (Mr Piccolo) has no understanding of how this chamber works, and the responsibility is firmly at the feet of the Hon. Ian Hunter. He chose not to ask for a vote on this. Then Mr Piccolo put out a press release saying that we are opposed to it. That is because we tried to listen to the LGA and its concerns, and it said that it was not in favour of it. The LGA subsequently changed its view so, if the LGA is happy with it, likewise, we are happy with it.

I think it is a bit rich for the member for Light to criticise us for having a position and holding up the debate when, clearly, the responsibility lay at the feet of the Hon. Ian Hunter—he did not bring it on for a vote. So, the member for Light should be putting out a press release chastising his parliamentary colleague the Hon. Ian Hunter rather than blaming the Liberal Party for holding up the legislation.

The CHAIRMAN: It is nice to know that we are all happy.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: I take this opportunity to refresh the memory of honourable members about the bill and its objects. The bill will remove an anomaly that currently exists in planning regulations; that is, currently development controls for the external appearance of a building come into play only when there is a change in land use. Accordingly, you can have identical businesses alongside each other within the same street subject to different development controls. This bill will amend that anomaly.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: No, it is not. The Hon. Mr Ridgway made some comments, which I will come to now. I am in no way unhappy with his support for this bill, even though he comes at it rather late in the stage. The reason we did not go to a vote earlier was that the Hon. Mr Ridgway and his comrades on that side of the chamber decided that they would not support the bill. They now know that the LGA is in favour of this bill and, accordingly, they have come on side. I welcome that. I am not going to play the man. I am happy to accept responsibility for all the accusations he makes about me, as long as he supports the bill.

Clause passed.

Remaining clauses (2 and 3) and title passed.

Bill reported without amendment.

Third Reading

Bill read a third time and passed.