Did we really need the Productivity Commission to tell us that the energy efficiency ratings are a waste of time and money?
A week ago it suggested we might have wasted $12 million on EERs in the past five years.
It is another reminder of how badly Canberra has done on planning since self-government.
Other reminders are:
The despairingly slow progress at rebuilding after the 2003 bushfires. True, much delay has been because of insurance, but planning has been a major frustration. When these suburbs were built 30 years ago people had to finish building within a year, as a condition of their lease. Two years after the fires only a third of the 491 houses had been rebuilt.
The rotten state of Civic as highlighted by John Thistleton and Ben Doherty’s reports in The Canberra Times this week.
Planning Minister Simon Corbell’s side-flip on Civic. His enthusiasm for relaxed rules for West Civic resulted in people from other parts of Civic saying, “Why can’t we have relaxed rules, too?” Why not, indeed, the Minister said. He should have thought of it first up.
Continue reading “Forum for Saturday 30 april 2005 planning”