In welcoming new development and planning agencies, ACT Greens call for improved governance and greater social inclusion

2017-03-08

“I’m glad to see this policy to restructure the LDA that the Greens took to the election last year being implemented,” Ms Le Couteur said.

“While I was campaigning last year, I had significant feedback from the community about their lack of trust in the LDA development processes, and they want to see more transparency and better governance.

“Our community wants Government land developers to deliver high-quality developments that showcase housing affordability, energy efficiency, community involvement and design excellence. These skills should be part of the board of the new organisations and for this reason, it’s important to include community representation.

“Too often, the Land Development Agency’s developments have lagged the better private developers in quality, often due to consistently poor governance practices, and little experience in social inclusion. We urge the Government to appoint strong boards that can address these concerns.

“Under the Parliamentary Agreement between the Greens and Labor, we secured a commitment to an LDA board that includes independent members with skills from the social and affordable housing sector.  We are expecting the Government will include this for both boards, to ensure that the needs of all members of our community—not only developers—are adequately met,” Ms Le Couteur added.

Statement ends