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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 2 Hansard (27 February) . . Page.. 549 ..

MR WHITECROSS: I ask a supplementary question. Minister, how do you reconcile these comments with information provided to the Gungahlin Community Council by the chief executive of the Gungahlin Development Authority that the decision not to proceed with the enclosed oval was made after the Gungahlin Development Authority received advice from private consultants that Gungahlin did not have a population level to sustain an enclosed oval?

MR HUMPHRIES: I am not sure that those two statements are at odds, Mr Speaker. No, they are not. They are different things, but they could have done both. They could have taken advice from a private source of information - - -

Mr Whitecross: You had better read the note.

MR HUMPHRIES: It has nothing to do with this; I am sorry, Mr Whitecross. It is of no assistance whatsoever. They could have taken advice from a private consultant and also have considered the tenders. I see no reason why that could not have been consistently done.

MR HIRD: My question is also to Mr Humphries, in his capacity as Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning. Minister, are you aware of the claims issued today by the director of the Conservation Council, Mr Craig Darlington, that the Totalcare incinerator at Mitchell is pouring out dioxins and cyanide as a result of the incineration of hazardous waste? Are these claims true? What is the status of the environmental credentials of the Conservation Council?

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I am aware of these claims. They are fairly serious claims.

Ms McRae: Better than yours, Mr Hird.

MR HUMPHRIES: I would not venture that opinion, Ms McRae, after what I have seen today from the Conservation Council. I think I have a good relationship with the Conservation Council, but I have to say that the release issued today really does take the cake. There is a very serious series of inaccuracies in the information which has been put out by the council. Let me go through some of those things.

They claim that information about the chemicals being burnt at the Mitchell waste incinerator is secret; that there is secret incineration of the fungicide Delan. The irony of that statement is that the information that the Conservation Council had on which to base their release was actually given to them by the Department of Urban Services with the consent of Totalcare. I am astonished that in those circumstances they should describe it as secret. If we want to keep secrets, we have a hell of a way of doing it!

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