Regional Policy
The ACT is not only the seat of National Government and home to its residents, but it is also an important regional centre for the people of southeast New South Wales (NSW). People travel to Canberra to access a variety of public and private services, work opportunities, commerce and other facilities. These include jobs, medical treatments, education, restaurants, shopping, sport, cultural facilities, community facilities and the airport. Residents of the ACT travel over the border for a different mix of reasons, including employment, tourism, recreation and to access destinations further afield.
As a result, it is vital that the ACT Government engages on issues affecting the ACT and the surrounding region at a local, regional, territory/state and national level. The ACT Government supports regional engagement through regular meetings, such as the Chief Minister's regular meeting witht he Mayor of Queanbeyan and projects with a range of strakeholders, inculding:
The Eastern Regional Taskforce
ACT Government, NSW Government and Queanbeyan City Council representatives work together to ensure the traffic network meets the future cross border transport needs of residents of Queanbeyan and Canberra and that new investment occurs in parallel with major new residential developments.
Regional Collaboration with the NSW Government
The ACT and NSW Governments are commited to working together that to address common issues such as sustainable population growth, continued economic interdependencies and service delievery between the ACT and southeast NSW. The Memorandum of Understanding on Regional Collaboration forms the basis for engagement between the NSW and ACT Government, and other stakeholder to address thses common and often complex issues.
Regional Development Australia (RDA) ACT
Regional Development Australia (RDA) ACT was established in May 2009 under a MoU between the ACT and Australian Governments. RDA ACT is part of a network of 55 RDAs across Australia. Both the Australian and ACT Governments provide operational funding to RDA ACT to support a small secretariat.
Regional Leaders’ Forum
The Regional Leaders’ Forum (RLF) was established in 1995 and has evolved into an information sharing and networking forum. It provides an opportunity for the ACT government, Local Governments in the Australian Capital Region (ACR), State and Federal MPs with electorates covering the ACR and RDA Committees within the region to speak directly about regional issues.
Development in South Tralee- ACT Government Agencies' submission to Queanbeyan City Council
The ACT Government has consistently opposed residential development at South Jerrabomberra (which encompasses Poplars, North Tralee and South Tralee) and has made a number of detailed submissions on the matter over recent years. Recent submissions by ACT agencies on this matter (in May and December 2009 and March 2010) reiterated in detail the ACT’s long-held concerns with the proposed development.
In response to the draft Local Environmental Plan (LEP) for the South Tralee area, ACT Government agencies reviewed the documents exhibited by the Queanbeyan City Council in September 2010. Issues of concern were summarised in Part 1 of the submission. In addition, ACT Agencies are of the opinion that the majority of the concerns raised on previous occasions still remain unresolved. On that basis, the ACT requests that the detailed submission made to Queanbeyan City Council in December 2009 again be considered as part of the current consultation process. A full copy of that submission is provided as Part 2 of the submission.
ACT Government Agencies’ Submission – Public Exhibition of Draft Queanbeyan Local Environmental Plan (South Tralee) 2009 [
DOC 198.5KB]
ACT Government Agencies’ Submission – Public Exhibition of Draft Queanbeyan Local Environmental Plan (South Tralee) 2009 [
PDF 985.7KB]
Key concerns for the ACT in relation to the proposed residential development at South Tralee relate to:
- the incompatibility of land uses with existing and future industrial operations at Hume, associated traffic and transport issues;
- potential residential amenity issues that are likely to arise should the proposed residential development proceed;
- the likely concern from residents of the proposed South Tralee development about the operations of the Canberra Airport. The Airport is a major economic driver for the ACT and Region and the ACT is concerned that over time, the South Jerrabomberra development will create pressure for there to be a curfew on the airport’s operations, or lead to calls for noise sharing with existing Queanbeyan and Canberra residents;
- the lack of evidence regarding the adequacy of the proposed buffer adjacent to Hume, particularly given the range of facilities already in place in Hume that may give rise to concerns from future residents in the area; and
- the lack of agreed funding arrangements in place to adequately compensate the ACT for the infrastructure and services required to support these developments. Residential development in the cross border region places demands on ACT supplied infrastructure, transport and social services as well as significant traffic for work, business, recreation, education and other aspects of daily life.
