Page 1345 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 10 May 1994
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It is with some pleasure that, on behalf of the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Committee, I table the committee's report on the draft variation for the Mulligans Flat area. The draft variation proposed to substantially expand the boundary of the conservation area and classify it as public land. This will ensure that the area is well protected by detailed management plans to be prepared by the Department of the Environment, Land and Planning. Members may, of course, recall that this Government previously made a commitment to declaring the Mulligans Flat area as a nature reserve. The committee's endorsement of the proposal is an important step in securing appropriate protection for the important woodland and grassland communities in that area.
Along with securing the protection of the Mulligans Flat area, the draft variation makes consequential changes to the planning of urban areas adjacent to the nature reserve. Madam Speaker, these changes will be further refined in the outlined planning stage for the whole area and then will be put out for public comment. This will enable the community to comment on the more detailed stages of planning for the area. Madam Speaker, I commend the report to members.
MS SZUTY (3.10): Madam Speaker, I wish to speak briefly to this draft variation to the Territory Plan which establishes the boundaries for the Mulligans Flat Nature Reserve in Gungahlin. It has indeed been a pleasure, I believe, for the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Committee to consider this draft variation. The proposed extension of the Mulligans Flat reserve reduces the current planned urban area by about 300 hectares, and that is indeed a significant change. The explanatory statement to the draft variation explains well the rationale for the extension of the reserve. I quote from page 2 of the green explanatory statement:
In more recent times it has been recognised that part of the area originally proposed for urban development in the 1984 Gungahlin Policy Plan is of high ecological and cultural significance. The Mulligans Flat area is considered particularly important because of its lowland woodland and secondary native grassland communities. These communities are poorly represented in the ACT because they generally occur on land suitable for grazing or urban development. Following further studies and consultation with local environmental groups, the Government announced its intention to substantially expand the boundaries of the conservation area. This variation proposes to define the boundaries of the reserve in light of previous work.
Madam Speaker, during the public notification and consultation process, five responses to the draft variation were received by the ACT Planning Authority; and it was pleasing to see that a number of key organisations had taken the opportunity to be involved in the draft variation process. These organisations were the National Trust, the National Parks Association of the ACT, the Conservation Council of the South-East Region and Canberra, and the Canberra Ornithologists Group. In fact, the Conservation Council's submission noted that the alignment of the proposed reserve boundary closely follows the boundary agreed during a site inspection attended by government and conservation representatives in November 1992.
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