Page 1881 - Week 09 - Thursday, 19 October 1989
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relation to sewage treatment, the Hume industrial site is connected to a package sewerage system which treats all effluent on the Hume estate itself.
Mr Kaine: I rise on a point of order, Mr Speaker. I would ask the Minister whether he got the answer to the question along with the question since it seems to be written out so comprehensively.
MR SPEAKER: The objection is overruled, Mr Kaine. Please proceed, Minister.
MR WHALAN: ACTEW is at present upgrading the capacity of the package system to meet increased demands as the Hume estate develops. This work is not directly related to the Revlon project, although some capacity will be available for that purpose. It serves the entire Hume industrial estate. There have been ongoing discussions and negotiations between ACTEW and Revlon for the last 15 months. These discussions have related to a number of aspects, including the ACTEW costs and the standards of effluent. In addition, ACTEW has sent experts to the Revlon Sydney installation to take samples of the effluent currently being produced and has tested this to assess the requirements for treatment within the ACT.
ACTEW is confident that it will be possible to meet the dual requirement of the Canberra sewerage and water supply regulations and also to limit other chemicals to levels below which they can be successfully treated initially at Hume and eventually at the Lower Molonglo Water Quality Control Centre.
Negotiations are continuing on the extent of treatment that needs to be carried out by Revlon to ensure ACTEW requirements are met. At this stage ACTEW has indicated that Revlon would almost certainly be required to pre-treat its waste to remove or reduce concentrations of certain chemicals prior to discharge into the Hume package treatment system.
ACTEW has also offered to provide technical assistance to Revlon to ensure that the discharges from the Revlon factory will meet all current and potential future discharge requirements. Discussions also have been held with the firm regarding the possible introduction in the future of liquid trade waste regulations and charges. I wish to stress that Revlon is cooperating fully with ACTEW in meeting specified requirements for effluent quality and treatment.
Mr Kaine: On a point of order, Mr Speaker; would you please ensure or require that Ministers, if they wish to make a statement about government policy, do so outside of question time and not use up question time to make such statements.
MR SPEAKER: I take that on notice, Mr Kaine.
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