Ms Maria Graham:

I thank the Chairman. There have been some important observations. Everything we do will be in compliance with EU and international law. I want to give that reassurance around the Aarhus Convention. I have it printed off very carefully and understand all of the obligations, but an important part of that is access to justice. In terms of judicial review, from our perspective that means making sure that it works within the system.

In stepping back from that, we need to ask why cases are ending up in a judicial review. There will always be a judicial review process and people will have to have access to it but if more people can engage upfront and understand the process, that will mean they will not have to go to court. That is what we are trying to do.

In terms of the 2019 Bill, when the Minister engaged with the committee he indicated his willingness to examine it. It was not that the Bill was being brought forward; there had been public consultation on it which had not been reflected in what might go forward and the Minister referenced a range of areas he was willing to engage on. All of that has to be considered in the mix and it is probably an issue we will come to at a later stage.

We discussed the hierarchy being clear as we move on from the NPF. There is broad agreement around the need for the NPF and its key components but it is taking time to work through the development plans. All of the development plans aligned with the NPF are not yet through and that means there is, to some extent, a bit of friction in the system. Applications are coming in against development plans that do not quite align with the NPF. They then end up with the board and in the courts.

There is probably a window here. As we move through this process, I hope you will get development plans that have been through the OPR process and are aligned with the NPF. Unless there is a policy change, there should be greater clarity and that would be my hope. The issue around material contravention should be the exception rather than the norm. At the moment, there are probably some difficulties around that from a timing perspective.

The other point associated with this is that we are working with the Department of Justice on the planning and environmental court. We have a working group which includes the Courts Service. That work is going quite well in terms of the practical arrangements for establishing the planning and environment court. That is certainly in hand. Any legislative parts will be brought forward through the Department of Justice but it is clear on the needs.

One of the points that Senator Boyhan made was about elected members. I may be saying this as head of planning, but the development plan is one the most important role elected members have because it is the vision for a locality and a range of things that will happen in an area over time. We see it as an important role. That is why one of the first training programmes the OPR has invested in is in respect of elected members.