Page 2391 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 6 August 1991
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Mr Collaery: Is he talking about mercy killing, Mr Speaker, or what?
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Collaery! I do not know what he is talking about; I am listening to the question. I call Mr Stefaniak.
MR STEFANIAK: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I will say that again: Along with the publication of the whereabouts of the newly opened asbestos dump at West Belconnen, it has been reported that the Department of Urban Services has "recommended that no houses be built within 1,500 metres of the dump". If that is correct, are you aware that the majority of blocks that are currently being sold in Gungahlin are within that distance of the Gungahlin asbestos dump, and can you assure the house that buyers of blocks of land in that area have been made aware of the proximity of the old dump to their future homes? Can you also explain why asbestos is still being dumped, wrapped only in plastic and in ply boxes, when experience in Gungahlin has shown that this method has resulted in crates being split open under bulldozers, freeing the dangerous fibre into the air and onto surrounding ground?
MR CONNOLLY: Mr Speaker, like so many opposition questions, this one is premised on some mistakes of fact.
Mr Duby: Hear, hear!
MR CONNOLLY: Mr Duby says, "Hear, hear!". He would say that because he was the Minister administering this program - and I will say that he was administering it quite well - until I took over and continue to administer it - - -
Ms Follett: Extremely well.
MR CONNOLLY: Extremely well. The suggestion in the Canberra Times this morning that there was some mystery shrouding the move of the asbestos tip from Gungahlin to West Belconnen is simply not true. I can recall speaking to a range of electronic media organisations, within weeks of coming into government, about that move. It was proposed, I think, originally for 12 July but had been delayed because of the wet weather. It was clearly a decision which had been taken by the previous administration. The Gungahlin tip had served its useful life. There were also substantial earthworks and so forth in the Gungahlin area.
The West Belconnen tip, which had been identified as a hazardous waste site by the National Capital Development Commission in 1988, is clearly signposted and marked as a hazardous waste site, and has a very large pit dug for this specific purpose. It was the obvious site to take over. That decision had been implemented by the previous Government, and we continued with it because it was sound.
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