ACT 'well placed' to push ahead with development

Mr Gentleman said the ACT had benefited from being one of the only jurisdictions nationwide with a fully electronic development application process.

In a meeting on Friday, state and territory planning ministers, the federal minister for cities and the Australian Local Government Association president agreed planning and development application processes needed to function throughout the COVID-19 crisis to support economic recovery.

Mr Gentleman said while many planning systems were facing major changes to meet new safety requirements, the ACT had already made the shift online.

Notification of and community engagement with development proposals has been digitalised and additional staff have been brought in to process applications in the pipeline.

"The ACT is in a quite positive position to support post COVID-19 recovery because we've allocated additional resources to the development assessment area and we've extended commencement periods and have an electronic notification system," Mr Gentleman said.

"In comparison, other jurisdictions are currently trying to transition planning systems online.

"They still have requirements to notify proposals in local newspapers for example and to inspect documents in person."

The construction industry has continued operations throughout the crisis, adapting to new social distancing measures.

The sector has been pinpointed by the government as playing a key role in the ACT's recovery.

Last week, Chief Minister Andrew Barr said a series of small-scale "screwdriver-ready" infrastructure projects would be part of the ACT's survival plan, with $20 million committed to the fast-tracked projects to be announced as soon as this month.

"Those are projects we had looked at previously that we can kick off very quickly," Mr Gentleman said.

He said creating local jobs in the sector would be a priority as the government announced the $20 million Jobs For Canberrans fund to provide short-term employment.

"We don't want people travelling interstate so there will be a focus on local jobs," he said.

"We want to ensure we can supply jobs for those people that have lost employment in the ACT."