The Independent Assessor

The Office of Independent Assessor was established by the Prostitution Amendment Act 2001 which commenced by proclamation on 7 December 2001.

On 7 December 2001 Mr Stephen Keim was appointed to fill the office of Independent Assessor.

The vast majority of appeals in respect of decisions on development applications are heard and determined by the Planning and Environment Court, a body comprised of full time judges of the District Courts who have a commission to constitute the Planning and Environment Court. The provisions of the Act (section 64K) create a right of appeal to the Independent Assessor against decisions of an assessment manager (in most cases, a local government) in respect of development applications for a material change of use of premises for a licensed brothel.

The Office of the Independent Assessor represents an alternative legislative approach to the determination of planning appeals in this limited area of code assessable licensed brothels. The objective of the new provisions is to provide for easily accessible, informal, fair, speedy and just reviews of decisions about code assessable development applications. The task for the Independent Assessor is to provide ease of accessibility, informality and efficiency while maintaining quality of decision making, particularly in terms of fairness and justice.