Crispin Hull

Support for the Follett Government has fallen away in favour of the Liberal Party since the 1992 election, according The Canberra Times-Datacol poll.It indicates that Labor will not get majority government unless there is a substantial flow of votes its way between now and the February 18 election.

However, Labor is still ahead four points and Rosemary Follett is preferred as Chief Minister over Kate Carnell by 3 points.

There remains a high percentage of undecided voters and a high percentage for unspecified independents and minor parties. But it is not good news for Independent Helen Szuty or Abolish Self-Government MLA Dennis Stevenson.
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Rosemary Follett has been pipped in the performance stakes for the first time since self-government, according to the Canberra Times-Datacol poll. Voters were asked to rate the 10 most prominent ACT politicians from very bad to very good.

Since polling began just before self-government in 1989, Ms Follett’s performance has always been rated higher than any other party leader or candidate until this poll. Now both the Leader of the Opposition, Kate Carnell, and the Minister for Health and Attorney-General, Terry Connolly, have overtaken her.

Adding the middle and positive ratings, Ms Carnell has a 75 per cent rating; Mr Connolly 68 and Ms Follett 63.
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Bill Wood is fighting the planning issue on two, perhaps three, fronts.Having announced two inquiries into in-fill in the hope of appeasing residents and community groups, last week the builders and developers jumped down his throat and threatened legal action.

The threat of legal action is important, and I’ll come back to it.

At the time of announcing the inquiries (one short-term, one long-term), Wood did not know who was to conduct them. So it seemed like policy on the hop.

To some extent it was making a virtue out of necessity, because both Independent Michael Moore and the Liberals supported an inquiry, and Moore was insisting on a moratorium on development until it was completed.
Continue reading “1994_09_september_op12sep”

Market is slowly maturing and splitting into several species of product each taking advantage of different elements of the technology.One species is the new multi-media package especially created for the CD-ROM. The recently released Ancient Lands from Microsoft is in the class. More of that anon.

Another species is the existing reference book or set of books put on CD-ROM.

And another is the huge directory.
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A new branch of the ALP in the ACT is being formed with more flexible meeting times, on the of the conveners said yesterday (saty). The branch would be Braddon Central and the administrative committee of the ACT branch council is to look at a full submission on the formation of the branch on September 15, according to Peter Conway who is co-convener with Warwick Priestly and Pat O’Connor of the Dickson branch.

Mr Conway said the traditional late evening meetings did not suit many people. A doorknock around the Braddon area said different times would suit retired people and people with families and would result in more people joining the party. He hoped one monthly meeting could be at breakfast time, the next at lunch and the next two at 6pm or 6.30pm and then cycle.
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Australians are to be asked what they want their national capital to be in a community-consultation program launched yesterday. The program is to go beyond Canberra residents, planners, politicians, environmentalists, public servants to the ordinary people of Australia.

It began yesterday with the opening of a display at Floriade by the acting chief executive of the National Capital Planning Authority, Gary Prattley.

There had been no significant review of expression of the vision for Canberra for 30 years, he said. Griffin’s visionary plan was for a town of 75,000 and could not have anticipated transport and communications, environmental factors and the multi-cultural society. In the 1960s the new towns of Woden and Belconnen were planned. Now the authority was looking at the long-term vision for the Central National Area and wanted to find out what Australians wanted.
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Canberra’s planning, including dual-occupancy rules, has come under fire from the convenor of the Prime Minister’s urban design task force.

John Mant was in Canberra to deliver the Institute of Landscape Architects Biennial public lecture.

In the lecture and in an interview at the weekend he said planning in Canberra was based more on property boundary lines than sound urban-design policies. Planners were saying that provided your building was set back from the boundary a given distance you could build what you liked. This took little or no account of neighbours, public spaces, orientation, aspect and other local conditions.

“”It is administratively convenient, but a poor way to create a good urban environment,” he said. “”Canberra could have done better. It is a poor way to get a good urban environment with one dwelling per block and much worse with two or more.”
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Leader ex CRISPIN HULLThe Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group called on the Federal Government yesterday to specifically over-rule Tasmania’s laws against homosexual conduct, rather than just pass a privacy law which would be a defence to a prosecution under those laws. They argue that it would be unacceptable for a person to have to go through the pain and trouble of being prosecuted and raising the federal law as a defence. They say it would be better to have the Tasmanian law over-ruled so there could be no prosecution in the first place.

That argument has merit, but it is more appropriately directed at the Tasmanian Government which is in the best position to directly repeal the repugnant law. The Federal Government is not in than position. It may not have the constitutional power to do so.

To date the Federal Attorney-General, Michael Lavarch, has handled the issue with a certain amount of common sense, some legal dexterity and some political cleverness.
Continue reading “1994_09_september_leader18sep”

The ACT Government announced last night that it would introduce legislation for quarterly assessment of land tax and an appeal committee to prevent anomalies.Under present law land tax is payable on all residences not used as the principal residence of the owner, and assessed at July 1 for the whole year.

The law was designed to tax landlords receiving rent.

however, for two years the Landlords Association, the Canberra Rates Association, the Opposition and taxpayers have pointed to injustices. They arose in many cases where owners did not live in a house but were not landlords receiving rent: people allowing dependant relatives to live in houses, life tenants and people holding under wills, trusts or companies and other arrangements.
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The Seven Spirit Wilderness, Northern Territory, with landscape design by EcoSystems, left, which won the Award in Landscape Excellence at the fifth biennial national awards of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects presented in Canberra last night (saty 11 sept). The judges said the award was given in recognition of sensitive creativity resulting in a magical, cultural and natural experience. At right is the Belconnen Skate Park, with landscape design by ACT Landscape, which won a merit award in the Government section. The judges said: “”This intensive hard landscape was developed in conjunction with strong community involvement. The result is a fun place for both formal competition use or informal play”.
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