Page 1064 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 23 June 1992
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South Wales-ACT Consultative Forum, prior to any consideration of a rezoning application for ribbon development along the corridor north of the ACT, due to be discussed by the Yarrowlumla Shire Council at its meeting on 14 July 1992?
MR WOOD: Yes, the Government will give support to that proposal. Indeed, it has already done so in the sense that, when the Chief Minister some months ago went to the regional committee, we supported the draft strategy that has been prepared. By our acceptance of that strategy we support what you say. It is the case that the proposal impinges on that strategy's definition of what the Murrumbidgee corridor is. We certainly agree that we ought to expedite that study and establish the priorities for that corridor ahead of any development. I am not aware that that study is yet under way, but following your question I will undertake to see what I can do to expedite that matter.
Land Fill Sites
MR WESTENDE: My question is directed to the Minister for Urban Services, Mr Connolly. I refer Mr Connolly to the announcement that the recycling plant for crushing building waste of bricks, concrete and bitumen would save 30,000 cubic feet of land fill space. Was any consultation with the industry held before making that announcement? What in fact is the current position with land fill space? What is the expected life of the Mugga Lane and Belconnen tips? What plans are in place for further land fill areas in the ACT? Will there be consultation with the community and the industry before any decisions are made?
MR CONNOLLY: I thank Mr Westende for his question. The question relating to future land fill sites is obviously one on which there would be extensive community consultation. It would involve Mr Wood's department, which has responsibility for planning, as well as my own, which has responsibility for waste management. But the real goal of this Government is to avoid that decision for as long as possible. If we can avoid new land fill sites, we save the community vast sums of money. We also save a major environmental problem, no matter how well managed a land fill site is. The technology and work involved in managing our two land fill sites are quite significant. Simply driving past and seeing a few bulldozers at work does not give you a true impression of the work that goes in for environmental protection.
Consultation for this particular project really occurred between industry and my department. The principal Canberra private sector demolition contractor approached government some time ago with the suggestion that some money could be saved in terms of land fill and that a valuable environmental contribution could be made if we entered into a recycling program for building rubble. As is the hallmark of this Government, we will listen to private sector proposals for sensible reform initiatives. This matter was discussed with my department and with Mr Wood's department. It is now a reality. We have a program running on a site at Pialligo - Bega Recycling. We made it clear that we would not be happy if this were a monopolistic situation, if only one particular contractor had access to the site. We have assurances that other demolition contractors, small builders doing demolition work, can also deposit their material there. So there was some consultation on that. The big issue of future waste management land fill sites is quite some way down the track. We hope to keep it further down the track.
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