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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 6 Hansard (23 May) . . Page.. 1744 ..

Detail Stage

Bill, by leave, taken as a whole

MS TUCKER (6.29): I move:

Page 6, line 19, clause 12, add the following subclauses:

"(2) In the conduct of a performance audit, the Auditor-General shall, where appropriate, and in addition to any other relevant matter, assess the relative costs and benefits of the operations subject to the audit.

"(3) An assessment under subsection (2) shall include an assessment of -

(a) the relative social costs and benefits of the operations, both direct and indirect; and

(b) the relative environmental costs and benefits of the operations, both direct and indirect, having regard to the principles of ecologically sustainable development.

"(4) For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), ecologically sustainable development is to be taken to require the effective integration of economic and environmental considerations in decision-making processes and to be achievable through implementation of the following principles:

(a) the precautionary principle, namely, that if there is a threat of serious or irreversible environmental damage, a lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation;

(b) the inter-generational equity principle, namely, that the present generation should ensure that the health, diversity and productivity of the environment is maintained or enhanced for the benefit of future generations;

(c) conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity;

(d) improved valuation and pricing of environmental resources.

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