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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 3 Hansard (10 April) . . Page.. 886 ..

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister) (3.22): Mr Speaker, for the information of members, I present the Government response to Report No. 22 of the Standing Committee on Planning and Environment entitled "Environmental Accounting for the ACT Government", which was presented to the Assembly on 10 December 1996. I move:

That the Assembly takes note of the paper.

In tabling a response to the report of the Planning and Environment Committee, the Government is pleased to advise that work has commenced on developing an options paper as suggested by the committee. The Government sees here an opportunity for the ACT to capitalise on an already strong commitment to environmentally sound management practices and a very well regarded annual report on the state of the environment produced by the Commissioner for the Environment. The developments being researched for the options paper aim to more closely integrate environmental accounting and the financial accounting framework. Members should be aware that this work stretches financial accounting beyond the existing conceptual framework. There will be no instant answers. This represents a very important step and can be considered to be just the beginning of a journey which should ultimately place the ACT on the world map as a jurisdiction with the most advanced environmental management.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister and Minister for Health and Community Care) (3.24): Mr Speaker, for the information of members, I present the Healthpact Strategic Plan 1996-97 to 1998-99, and I move:

That the Assembly takes note of the paper.

Mr Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to table the Healthpact Strategic Plan for the next three years. Healthpact was established as an independent statutory authority as a result of the Health Promotion Act 1995. The passing of the legislation, which enacted one of our election commitments, ensured the high visibility and credibility of health promotion within our health system. Health promotion is critical to the long-term improvement of health service delivery in the ACT. It enables individuals to take more responsibility for their own mental, physical and emotional health and, in the long term, should reduce demand on all of our health care services.

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