Canberra's new Planning Minister is a man on a mission. And he's not afraid to put a few noses out of joint.
Chris Steel's decision to use call-in powers to approve an estate development plan for the next stage of Denman Prospect revealed even more of the politician eager to get things done in a portfolio he had long coveted.
The call-in powers will soon be gone under changes made last year to the ACT's planning laws. That is a good thing. But Mr Steel's decision to use those powers for what may be the last time appears to be an astute decision.
The decision prompted a torrent of Wednesday afternoon opprobrium from the ACT Greens, who said they had been "blindsided" by the call. It was hardly surprising; the party has long loathed the call-in powers and worked very hard to get rid of them in the new system.
Mr Steel has wedged the Greens into a neat political problem. The junior coalition partner has repeatedly called for more housing, and now they appear to be opposed to doing just that on process and environmental grounds.
The environment - for good or for ill - is a less politically potent issue. There's general support for protecting the environment, of course, but faced with a choice between never touching the habitat of obscure, small animals and delivering more homes, Mr Steel has bet that more voters would rather somewhere to live. The conditions placed on the proposal will allay the fears of most, Mr Steel likely believes.
The Greens were also quick to say ACT Labor was "in bed with developers". The developer of Denman Prospect, the party's planning spokeswoman Jo Clay said, was understood to have written to Mr Steel's predecessor to ask him to call in the development application.
A good number of Canberrans already think the ACT government is in bed with developers. This may well confirm that view for them. Whatever political damage it does would be healed, in Mr Steel's mind, by his ability to spruik a government delivering more housing for the capital. Who builds housing? Developers.
"Housing is one of the number one issues that I hear from residents that we need to address as a government. And that's why you'll be seeing me prioritising housing in everything that I do," Mr Steel said on Wednesday, adding that this would include election commitments.
Mr Steel is an ambitious MLA on the make. His name appears on hypothetical lists of future chief ministers. It's quite a change from Mick Gentleman's time at the helm of planning. Mr Steel's actions so far - including new assignments for his bureaucrats, a decision to pursue a town centre reclassification for Molonglo and now a fast-tracked approval for more housing at Denman Prospect - demonstrate his drive and enthusiasm.
And it marks a divergence between Labor and the Greens that will set the tone for the campaign between the city's two key progressive parties ahead of the October election.
