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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 9 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 2800 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

own environmental management programs and best practice to ensure compliance with the law. It will also take account of cross-border issues. I might say that cross-border issues have to date been somewhat difficult to address in the State of the Environment Report. Many environmental issues cannot be confined to or effectively managed within artificially imposed political boundaries.

At the request of the regional leaders forum, the commissioner is currently developing the specifications for a south-east region state of the environment report. A regional report would facilitate a greater sharing of resources, enabling the pooling of expertise, and would reduce duplication. The ACT is contributing $20,000 to the study, with a matching amount being contributed by the shires that surround us. The commissioner has been asked to report back to the next meeting of regional leaders on 14 November, and the Government will keep members of this place informed about progress with this initiative. Measures such as that are quite important when it comes to issues such as management of endangered species. I was asked earlier this week about the area of wet themeda at West Belconnen. Clearly, a better understanding of what habitats and pockets of a particular species are found in our surrounding region will greatly assist us in understanding how threatened or endangered a particular species or ecological environment might be.

Since I tabled the State of the Environment Report, the commissioner has undertaken a review of the Commissioner for the Environment Act. He has recommended to me that certain changes be made to the Act concerning the frequency, due date and scope of state of the environment reports. Briefly, he considers that a major report every year is not necessary from an ecological or environmental perspective. He has recommended to me that a report be required only every three years, with a due date for submission of the report of 31 March in the year prior to each ACT election, and I am supportive of this request. The commissioner has also suggested some changes to the scope of reporting to remove some perceived ambiguities and repetition. Subject to some minor amendments to his proposal to take account of the ACT's annual reporting obligations to the National Environment Protection Council, I am also supportive of these. Naturally, the Government will also need to consider the implications of any agreed outcomes from the regional state of the environment reporting project.

Mr Speaker, I have just tabled the Government's response to the 1995 State of the Environment Report. It is important to note that, in accordance with the Act, the report was prepared independently of direction or constraint by me as Minister, government departments or agencies. In the report, the commissioner makes 50 recommendations and subrecommendations concerning environmental management of the ACT, and all but six of these have been supported by the Government. The 50 recommendations are broadly grouped into five sectors relating to the various chapters of the report, namely, atmosphere, water, land, plants and animals, and the urban environment. Like the first State of the Environment Report, this second report focuses on Government activity at the expense of reporting on environmental trends.

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