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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 4 Hansard (7 May) . . Page.. 1082 ..

MS HORODNY (4.42): Mr Speaker, I move:

That, consistent with the Government's Waste Management Strategy and recognising that recycling activities do create jobs and conserve resources, this Assembly calls on the Government to:

(1) not demolish the buildings on Acton Peninsula by explosion;

(2) not transfer any building rubble from Acton Peninsula to Fairbairn Park; and

(3) take every effort to sort and recycle the demolition materials from the Acton Peninsula buildings, particularly through the use of the Pialligo demolition waste recycling facility.

I am putting forward this motion as I am very concerned about the Government's plans for the demolition of buildings on Acton Peninsula. Let me say up front, however, that this motion is not about attempting to stop the demolition of the Acton Peninsula buildings. We accept that we have lost that battle and that the land swap agreement is now in place.

What I am concerned about is the Government's attempt to solve two problems with its planned blow-up of the Acton buildings: Firstly, what to do with all the demolition waste; and, secondly, what to do about the noise problems from the motor racetracks at Fairbairn Park. I am sure that the Government thought it was quite smart in seeming to solve these two problems in one big bang - pardon the pun - but, as far as we are concerned, blowing up the Acton buildings and trucking the rubble to Fairbairn Park is a poor way of recycling the demolition waste and will not solve the noise problems at Fairbairn.

Let me now deal with these two issues separately. Regarding the demolition waste from the Acton buildings: I asked the Chief Minister a question about this yesterday; but, as usual, she evaded the real point of my question. I know that there is some recycling of building materials occurring at Acton Peninsula, which is great; but I am most concerned about the demolition of the two main buildings - the main hospital block and Sylvia Curley House - which are planned to be blown up. It is good to hear the Chief Minister say that the fittings and some of the building materials from these blocks are being recycled, but the main structure of the building - all the bricks and concrete - is not being recycled. This amount has been estimated at nearly 60,000 tonnes, or about 35,000 cubic metres, of rubble.

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