Page 3856 - Week 13 - Thursday, 18 October 1990
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Mr Speaker, the initiatives identified in this environment strategy firmly establish the environmental credentials of the Alliance Government and clearly demonstrate that the commitment of this Government is not only to deal with immediate environmental issues but also to set in place the framework for future environmental management in the ACT. The Government believes that this strategy, together with the greenhouse strategy, the proposed paper on sustainable development and our commitment in the budget, will ensure that the environment in the ACT will continue to be managed in a responsible, balanced and sustainable manner.
In conclusion, let me once again speak of the importance that I personally place on consultation with the community on issues related to the protection of our environment. I am happy to meet regularly with groups and organisations. Many productive discussions have been held, and I expect many more to take place. Mr Speaker, as you will be aware, the Government continues to provide funding for operations of organisations like the conservation council because they play an important part in the community consultation process.
A hands-on approach to environmental issues is also important, and I expect many of the meetings to which I have already referred to be on site. I certainly give an undertaking that I will visit each one of the various community groups that are participating in the greening of our hills program at some stage during the next 12 months. I have already started that process. This strategy, Mr Speaker, is a clear statement on the commitment of the Government to its environment policy, and I commend it to the Assembly.
MRS NOLAN (4.24): Mr Speaker, the Government has already set out to achieve some of the targets that are set down in the environment strategy. The time for action on the environment is now, not in 20 years. We cannot afford to do nothing and suddenly find ourselves in the type of situation that faces large cities all over the globe. We cannot afford the polluted air, poisoned water systems, degraded soils and the stockpiles of industrial and urban waste. No community, least of all the Canberra community, will be able to bear the future economic, social and environmental costs of doing nothing towards minimising and rectifying the adverse impacts that we can have on the environment.
The Alliance Government is committed to action, but not to a scattered, piecemeal approach. Unlike other governments, the Alliance Government does not believe in token gestures or conservation at all costs. Rather, it has adopted a more reasoned and logical approach by which environmental issues are integrally linked with economic development and growth in a way which benefits the community at large. Through its environment strategy, the Government is examining environmental issues in a systematic, strategic
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