Page 5914 - Week 18 - Wednesday, 11 December 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
All these groups also submitted detailed and thoughtful submissions on the issue and appeared before the committee. I think all committees in the ACT should be appreciative of the amount of time taken by these groups, particularly voluntary groups and organisations, to not only prepare detailed submissions but also take the time - some of them, I would suggest, during working hours; so they would have to take time off from work - to appear before our committees.
Mr Deputy Speaker, this is a good report because it is unanimous and has the support of the committee. It is now appropriate for me to thank those existing members of the committee who participated in the preparation of this report and its final recommendations in an atmosphere of general cooperation and participation. I think all members are to be commended for that attitude. As Mr Moore has said, it has been a feature of the committees of the ACT Assembly in general terms that this sort of cooperation in this process has taken place.
Like Mrs Nolan and other members of the committee, for some time I have been aware of the problems and concerns being expressed now by the rural lessees - prior to the Assembly being formed and as a member of the Alliance Government with regular contact with rural lessees in my role assisting the former Chief Minister, Mr Kaine, in the area of environment, land and planning and assisting Mr Duby in relation to heritage matters.
Also, I think it is probably appropriate to put on record the fact that, as Mr Moore will no doubt recall, the Residents Rally had a clear statement in our regional policy and in our environment policy on the need for a review of the system of land tenure; it was covered in more detail in our environment policy. Our particular concern related to the effect on the environment of the short terms of existing leases and the lack of incentives to spend the funds required to help maintain the environment. Some of the farms that we visited - particularly Mr Adams' farm at the end of the Tuggeranong Valley - are prime examples of how a landholder has moved onto a property and taken the initiative, in conjunction with government, to assist in the retention of the environment which has been modified by the operations of rural activities over a number of years.
Early this year I attended a national conference on trees and sustainable agriculture at Albury in my capacity as a member of Greening Australia and the management committee of that organisation in the ACT. I used it as a study trip to improve my knowledge of this very important issue in not only Australia but also the ACT. It was obvious to me that there is an increasing awareness by rural landholders of the benefits of planting trees and other activities in improving not only production but also the environment, particularly as it relates to dry land salinity from which the ACT, fortunately, does not suffer to any degree. We have more problems with erosion, I would suggest, than dry land salinity.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .