Darryl Kerrigan we need you - the NCA wants our homes.

I seem to be writing quite often now about what a lack of transparency does for trust. Yet here we are again – undermining trust. Maybe we do need our own Darryl Kerrigan to protect our ACT castles from some developers and the NCA?

The best Darryl Kerrigan quote when confronted by big government and big business? "Tell 'em to get stuffed!"

The National Capital Authority (NCA) released the Hume Precinct proposal for comment on 5 January – anyone and everyone knows that when you hope that an outrageous idea will slip under the carpet – you release it in early January when most people are away on a break. But this is Canberra and the public didn’t fall for that old trick – but it still took most people a couple of weeks to find out about this as it was released with no fanfare. So, after some complaints they very reluctantly extended the deadline by a couple of weeks.

Will the NCA compulsorily purchase people’s homes - I doubt it very much. But the use of complex rezoning processes that are difficult for residents to interpret and the re-zoning plan itself leaves owners in confusion and conflict.

Has the NCA been taking lessons from the ACT government about how to muddy the development waters - and not communicate in a good way - and then weather any storm that may come before doing whatever they want anyway?

In a democracy, the role of public authorities is to serve the community, not treat residents as passive observers of decisions that will reshape their lives. Yet, over the past two years, the NCA has quietly moved forward with plans that could dramatically affect local businesses and upturn people’s lives.
 
The publicly available meeting records make the pattern clear. In December 2024, the NCA hosted the Jega Consortium who presented early development concepts for Hume Circle. According to the NCA’s own record, the Authority “noted and considered” the presentation but no decisions were made. Fast forward to April 2025, and the NCA received an Urban Design Framework for the area but admitted it had “not fully considered that proposal,” while simultaneously noting the importance of mixed-use development, public access and landscape character.
 
By June 2025, the NCA was discussing the embedding of apartment design provisions into a future statutory requirement, potentially affecting far more than just Hume Circle.

Yet consultation with the community remained secondary. Subsequent meetings in August and October 2025 continued to reference the Hume Circle report, while real engagement with local residents was not considered.
 
Meanwhile, on the ground, businesses are learning of these changes piecemeal. Some business owners weren’t even aware of the rezoning until January, despite these decisions being discussed at the Authority level for more than a year.
 
The NCA’s own documents repeatedly note the importance of planning quality, public access and consultation but these principles are secondary to internal processes and developers’ needs and proposals. Residents and businesses are left scrambling to understand proposals that will affect property, livelihoods and the character of their neighbourhoods.
 
Canberra needs a National Capital Authority that is accountable to the people, not just to developers or internal processes. Residents should be informed early, engaged often and treated as partners in shaping their city not as obstacles to be managed.
 
The Hume Circle case is a red flag. Without reforms, future development decisions risk repeating the same pattern: complex proposals quietly advanced, statutory changes quietly prepared and local communities left in the dark until it’s too late to influence outcomes.
 
Of course, the concerned residents have mobilised. Petitions are circulating and concerned property owners continue to seek clarity on how the NCA intends to proceed. These efforts highlight the human cost of opaque governance. The NCA can no longer assume that noting a report in a meeting, without thorough discussion or consultation, constitutes proper engagement.
 
The message is clear: transparency and respect for the people are not bureaucratic luxuries, they are the foundation of good governance. The NCA’s handling of Hume Circle should be a wake-up call, not just for Canberra, but for anyone who believes that public authorities exist to serve the public, not simply to rubber-stamp development plans.

Will the affected unit owners ever have certainty? Will one of the new multi-storey developments be called NCA Towers?

Darryl Kerrigan where are you?