Page 5570 - Week 17 - Wednesday, 4 December 1991
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MADAM TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr Jensen.
MR JENSEN: Crack the whip, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker. The problem is that the plan will not, I would suggest, be in place before this legislation commences operation, if the legislation is to commence operation on 2 April. At the moment, the plan is a pile of documents that is as high as this desk, and in not too many places does it provide the sort of information required for a mandatory preliminary assessment. The Minister may be able to indicate to us how he proposes to get around this particular problem. When I was seeking a way around the problem, it occurred to me that, if it was not possible to prescribe classes for defined decisions, there would be a gap between the time when the legislation begins to operate and the time when the plan takes effect.
My understanding at the moment is that the environmental assessment process is not triggered by any of our own legislation. We are currently using - and correct me if I am wrong - the Federal legislation in relation to environmental impact proposals. This is the problem that we have. Frankly, I have some difficulties with some of the ways in which the Federal legislation operates because, as I have already indicated, the majority of it is in the form of regulations.
We have already seen, in the ACT, a development proposal that was changed drastically - one which, in fact, could have had a major effect on the environment of the Murrumbidgee River, and, of course, the Murray-Darling-Murrumbidgee river system. I am referring, of course, to the National Aquarium. The initial proposal was changed quite extensively to increase the amount of development as it related to potential for environmental damage.
Under the proposals that exist at the moment for the Federal legislation, there is no way that there is a requirement for this sort of substantial change in the development conditions and for proposals to require additional environmental impact assessments and statements. That was one of the problems, and that is one of the problems that we face at the moment.
So, I turn my mind to how best to ensure that mandatory preliminary assessments can be conducted in that period between the passage of this legislation and when the Territory Plan comes into effect, bearing in mind that the public consultation process for the Territory Plan does not close until 20 March. If you can tell me that the Territory Plan is going to be finalised and go through this Assembly by 2 April, I am afraid you are a better man than me, Gunga Din, because I do not believe that that is possible at all. I suspect, going on some of the discussions that I saw take place last night at a public meeting in Belconnen, that the Territory Plan will not be approved in its final stage until well into the second half of 1992.
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