Governing the City State - Chief Minister and Treasury Directorate ...

Under the 2008 federal financial relations framework, these payments have beenconsolidated into one payment for ACT municipal services and have been classified asgeneral revenue assistance. For 2009-10, this funding is estimated at $35 million.The National Capital AuthorityThe NCA is responsible for the Commonwealth’s ongoing interest in the planning anddevelopment of Canberra. It discharges this primarily through the NCP the key objective ofwhich is to ensure that Canberra and the ACT are planned and developed in accordance withtheir national significance. In effect, this means two planning systems for Canberra: oneadministered by the NCA, the other by the ACTPS.While the ACT Government is responsible for providing social services and publicinfrastructure, it does not have strategic planning responsibility for the whole of the ACT.As a consequence, the ACT Government is limited in how it can respond to urbandevelopment pressures. Before the ACT can implement any strategic change it must beassessed by the NCA as consistent with the General Metropolitan Plan in the NCP or theNCA has to agree to prepare and sponsor an amendment to the NCP.The urban form from the NCP and the so called Y-Plan (first introduced in 1967) havereinforced growth in a particular pattern, influencing service planning, such as publictransport, road networks and other infrastructure. These issues are reinforced by certainlimits on height, density and location of permitted development.These arrangements were canvassed in an inquiry by the Joint Standing Committee on theNational Capital and External Territories in 2008, but remain an unresolved issue. 35 Duringthe course of the Review, however, the beginnings of a joint approach to reform, which ofnecessity will focus on defining matters of national significance, were evident in discussionswith current and former officials in the ACTPS and APS.The overall aim of those ongoing discussions should be to align planning responsibilitieswith land administration responsibilities and reduce overlap, duplication and complexity. Inthis model, the Commonwealth should, of course, properly, retain planning and developmentcontrol in areas of genuine national significance.Currently the Matters of National Capital Significance outlined in the NCP are:• Canberra and the Territory’s pre-eminent role as the national capital;• preservation and enhancement of the landscape features which give the national capitalits character and setting;• respect for the key elements of Walter Burley Griffin’s formally adopted plan forCanberra;• creation, preservation and enhancement of fitting sites, approaches and backdrops fornational institutions and ceremonies as well as national capital uses; and35 See http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/ncet/natcapauth/index.htmContext for the Review: 50