Page 2192 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 31 October 1989
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MR COLLAERY: I just referred to the Revlon one, Minister, as an example. I went on to ask: do you intend to adopt any environmental assessment procedures for significant developments? If you have seen any environmental assessments, to what do they relate?
MS FOLLETT: Thank you. I am sorry about that, Mr Speaker. It is not what I have taken a note of. On the question of environmental assessment procedures, the Government has released its discussion paper on new legislation for the ACT on planning, environment and heritage matters and on assessment and approval procedures. Mr Speaker, that discussion paper was put out early because of apparent community concern about these sorts of issues, and it has, I believe, been fairly favourably received. But it is a consultation document. The Assembly will be aware that I have given an undertaking on drafting instructions for those new pieces of legislation, and I will be acting upon that undertaking.
I think the short answer to Mr Collaery's question is that we wish to have in place in the ACT, and by the action of our elected Assembly, appropriate environmental controls that reflect the concern of everyone in our community for our environment, and we are working to do that as quickly as possible.
Mr Collaery also asked whether I had seen environmental impact assessments on any particular projects. If he is referring to the kind of EIS that is carried out under the Commonwealth legislation, which is the only legislation we have at the moment, the answer to that is no, Mr Speaker.
Asbestos Removal
MR STEFANIAK: My question is addressed to the Minister for Housing and Urban Services. Is it true that the cost of asbestos removal from private homes has blown out from approximately $20,000 per house to approximately twice that - about $40,000 per house? If that is so, what does your Government propose to do in relation to that?
MRS GRASSBY: Thank you, Mr Stefaniak. The Government will be making an announcement today on the asbestos situation. A contract will be let in the coming week or so to the lowest tenderer. It is true, Mr Stefaniak, that the prices that came in were a lot more expensive than we thought they would be. We are looking at letting a contract for the first hundred houses before Christmas. They will be started, and then we will be looking at other ways of trying to make the cost of it a little less.
MR STEFANIAK: I have a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. Do those other ways include possible legal action against the Commonwealth of Australia for the cost of asbestos removal from ACT homes?
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