Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 4 Hansard (7 May) . . Page.. 1083 ..

MS HORODNY (continuing):

The Chief Minister is really pushing the bounds of truth here by claiming that moving this rubble to Fairbairn Park is really and actually recycling. Recycling is about taking waste materials and processing them in some way, so that they can be reused either in similar new products or in another product; it is about adding value to the waste. The Government's own waste management strategy defines recycling as "the returning of materials to a previous stage in a cyclic process or the conversion of waste into reusable materials". Bricks are normally recycled by cleaning them and reusing them, creating jobs; that is, real jobs for real people. Concrete is recycled by crushing it, removing the reinforcing steel for reuse in steelmaking and reusing the concrete aggregate in new concrete or in roadmaking. Dumping the rubble in Fairbairn Park to form noise mounds is not reusing the materials in the most valuable way; it is just moving a pile of rubble from one location to another.

The Government released its waste management strategy last year, with the bold target of no waste to landfill by 2010. The statistics on waste generation in the ACT show that builders' waste is a major problem. The amount of builders' waste going to ACT landfills is about a quarter of all waste and is more than the total amount of household waste. This does not take into account the builders' waste that is trucked into New South Wales or dumped at the unofficial tips around the ACT, such as the Palmerston tip.

Some demolition waste is being processed at the recycling plant at Pialligo, but it is not working to capacity and has not enough supply to meet demand. If the waste from Acton went to the Pialligo plant, it would receive a big boost and it could mean up to six workers being put on for a year; that is, real jobs for real people. The Government needs to show that it is committed to its own waste strategy and is prepared to use the waste recycling facilities that it helped to establish. The recycling of the landmark Acton Peninsula buildings would send a clear message to the community that this Government is committed to waste reduction and recycling, particularly of building waste.

Turning now to the Fairbairn Park side of this issue: The handling of the noise problems from the racetracks at Fairbairn by all ACT governments has been an ongoing debacle. The residential area that is most affected by the noise is the Ridgeway in New South Wales, which was first developed in 1971. Motor sport activities commenced at Fairbairn Park, at block 306, in 1976. There has never been a full environmental impact assessment of the motor sport activity, despite the expansion of the motor sport over this time into five separate tracks catering for a wide range of racing vehicles.

After considerable lobbying by the Ridgeway Residents Action Group, the current Government requested the Commissioner for the Environment to undertake an inquiry into motor sport noise from Fairbairn Park. The commissioner found that the noise from the motor sport was excessive at the nearest residences and that the Government system of giving regular exemptions to the race events under the Noise Control Act was the wrong way of managing the excessive noise. The Commissioner for the Environment reported in August 1995, and we are still waiting for the Government's response to this report; that is, we have been waiting for nearly two years.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .