Page 3112 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 10 September 1991
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conservatism, their raging conservatism. I am referring to Western Australia in particular and, increasingly, the Queensland Labor attitude on a whole range of issues, such as, sadly, child care.
MR JENSEN (9.28): Mr Speaker, I want to follow on from the comments I made previously. Any suggestion that what I have been advocating is something that has just popped out of my mind and is of no consequence is incorrect. A lot of work has been done on these issues by a lot of very dedicated people. We are finding that there is a move towards standard codes of the sort that this legislation refers to. As my colleague Mr Collaery says, it is appropriate for a young, vibrant Territory such as the ACT to take the lead in some of these areas and push them forward within the forums attended by Mr Wood and Mr Connolly.
It is appropriate for our Government to take the lead and push for a model code for residential development - a model code that is accepted by many States. In fact, it is not called the ACT model code; it is not called the New South Wales model code; it is referred to as the Australian Model Code for Residential Development, and it received strong support when it was produced. Of course, that covers more than just energy; it covers the whole process.
It is quite clear from the comments made by Mr Connolly that he has not even read the document, or even seen it. It looks at a number of aspects of development that relate to his portfolio area: For example, drainage that works, utility provision, street design, transport networks, vehicle parking, et cetera. It provides advice, assistance, performance criteria, and deemed-to-comply criteria for all those and many others. It is a well thought through document that is accepted by planners and groups around Australia.
The proposal for a model code for energy efficient buildings is not something I have thought up. The Building Regulation Review Task Force asked Price Waterhouse to conduct a study on support for a separate code for energy use in Australia. As I have already indicated, page 4 of that document states:
Price Waterhouse found no opposition to the proposal to develop a code for housing. Indeed a number of codes of various types already exist in Australia.
What they are proposing is to take those codes and put them together for a code of energy use and reduction in energy use that can apply throughout Australia. These are very important issues that many people in the community are becoming more aware of, and I think it behoves this Government to play a greater role than it has appeared to be doing in recent months.
Consideration interrupted.
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