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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 3 Hansard (9 April) . . Page.. 786 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

I should point out that virtually all, if not all, of the dangerous chemicals referred to have come from interstate; but, if any have come from the ACT, then they will be picked up with the manifest system, which will now be applied to internally sourced waste. The temperature at which the incinerator is operating is already monitored. I will have established a system which records which substances are incinerated on each day. We will be able to correlate the temperatures of the incinerator with the things that have been burnt in it at a particular time.

Ms Horodny: You have not been doing that in the past, have you?

MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Humphries is answering Mr Osborne's question, Ms Horodny. You will have a chance shortly.

MR HUMPHRIES: I maintain that the temperature at which the incinerator has always operated has protected the integrity of what is emitted from the smokestack at all times.

Ms Horodny: Why do you not table that evidence?

MR HUMPHRIES: I have already indicated that. I have already told the Assembly that the incinerator never operates at below 900 degrees Celsius. The effect of that is that all substances put into the incinerator are harmlessly disposed of. However, in a surfeit of caution to further emphasise that point, I am prepared to back that up by actually producing a table or documentation to show what is being burnt and at what temperature it is being burnt. Once one month's worth of records has been obtained, I will table those in the Assembly.

Of course, new environment protection legislation is going to arrive in the Assembly soon. Under that legislation the Totalcare incinerator will require an authorisation to operate. Totalcare management have agreed to operate under a voluntary code of practice pending passage of that new legislation. To ensure continuation of the monitoring which Mr Osborne has requested, I will have those things that he has requested incorporated into the code of practice and subsequently into the authorisation. The code of practice and authorisation will be available for public inspection, as will any records kept pursuant to the code and the authorisation.

I think that that demonstrates an extremely high level of environmental care. It exceeds the standards applied at any other incinerator in New South Wales, if not in Australia, in terms of disclosure of material being disposed of.

Ms Horodny: That is because they are not burning pesticides.

MR HUMPHRIES: We hear from Ms Horodny that they are not doing it very well either. I think that the standards being met are very high. These measures will ensure that they are both met at a very high level and shown to be met at a very high level.

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