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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 3 Hansard (8 April) . . Page.. 651 ..

LAND (PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT) (AMENDMENT) BILL 1996

Debate resumed from 25 February 1997, on motion by Mr Humphries:

That this Bill be agreed to in principle.

MR CORBELL (10.50): Issues surrounding the operation and the protection of our natural environment are naturally of extremely high concern in the Canberra community. There are specific ways of addressing the serious issues surrounding the management of pest plants and animals and the threat they pose to our natural environment, and we in this Assembly should act. Weeds and feral pests, feral animals, create extraordinary problems for our natural environment. They cost our community significantly in financial terms and in the deterioration they cause to our natural environment. Decisions which will make inroads into the problem of animal pests and weeds will be arrived at not purely by legislation alone but also by a strong community conviction that these are areas which require concerted and cooperative action. Addressing the control of pest plants and animals means more than just addressing the issue of rabbits as pests, which the existing legislation is limited to. It is important also to recognise that plants and other animals do pose threats to the environment and need to be addressed.

The proposals put forward by the Government in this Bill are to be welcomed generally because they do seek to address these serious concerns. The Labor Opposition will be supporting the amendments put forward by the Greens purely because they strengthen some of the weaknesses inherent in the Bill, particularly in regard to property management plans for rural leases. I think that is a welcome move, as it will ensure that rural leases will have stricter management than they currently have in regard to issues to do with pest plants and animals. Also to be welcomed is a requirement for a code of practice to deal with the control of a pest animal and to address issues relating to native animals. Increases in the penalties for people not complying with a code or an order relating to a pest animal or a pest plant are also quite important, as they increase the deterrent for people not complying with those codes.

The amendments flagged by the Greens are to be welcomed, as are the Government's moves in relation to the control of pest plants and animals in this Bill. We will be supporting the Greens' amendments purely because they deal with some loopholes. We share the concern of the Greens in relation to this Bill, but the Government also is to be congratulated on the efforts it has made to strengthen the Land (Planning and Environment) Act to deal with issues relating to pest plants and animals.

MS HORODNY (10.53): Mr Speaker, the Greens certainly agree with the intent of this Bill, which is to assist in the control of pest plants and animals in the ACT. Pest plants and animals are a major threat to natural ecosystems. Since it is we humans who have allowed the pest plants and animals to be released into inappropriate areas, it is up to us to deal with the problems that we have created. We also agree that the most desirable way of undertaking pest plant and animal control is through gaining the voluntary cooperation of the community, but it is also necessary to have legislative backup for cases where the cooperation is not forthcoming. We acknowledge that the existing legislation relating to noxious plants and rabbit destruction dates back to 1919, so it is clearly out of date and definitely needs to be reviewed.

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