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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 6 Hansard (19 June) . . Page.. 1832 ..

MR KAINE: Mr Speaker, I answered that question. I pointed out that an enterprise bargaining agreement, particularly the one that we have in place with ACTION, provides the framework for dealing with work practices. It does not resolve all of the issues. It cannot. But it provides the framework within which these issues can be negotiated. They have been negotiated already, in some cases. These that have been identified will be negotiated, and I am sure successfully, and Mr Corbell will be delighted at the outcome.

MR OSBORNE: My question is to the Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Humphries, in his role as Minister for the Environment. I think this is close to my first question on the environment, Minister. I have asked you a couple on the arts, have I not?

Mr Humphries: You have.

MR OSBORNE: I hope you are keeping tabs. Minister, my office has received a number of telephone calls lately from members of the public about the banning of dogs from the Tharwa area and the swimming holes in the Murrumbidgee River there. As there appears to be some confusion, could you tell me what the state of play is at the moment regarding that issue of banning the dogs?

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, yes, I can, and I thank Mr Osborne for the question. Members may be aware that there has been a longstanding issue of how the Territory deals with a number of sensitive environmental areas in the Territory, particularly the corridor of the Murrumbidgee River, which flows very close to the whole of Tuggeranong. A few days ago I released publicly the final draft management plan for the Murrumbidgee River corridor. That contains a number of proposals about the way in which there should be protection measures in place to ensure the highest possible standard of environmental care for that sensitive part of the ACT. Places like Point Hut Crossing, for example, when first established as recreation areas in the ACT, were some kilometres away from the nearest human habitation. Now they are less than two kilometres from parts of southern Tuggeranong. Therefore, we need to rethink the way in which areas like that, which interact with the Murrumbidgee very dramatically, are managed so as to minimise the bad effect on the environment.

We have made a decision, in the context of the release of that draft plan, that dogs should not be permitted to be exercised in the area around the Tharwa Bridge. That has been a very popular point to which people have been able to go and exercise dogs. However, there has been concern expressed by a number of environmental organisations about the impact of dogs urinating and defecating in and around the river corridor, particularly in the river itself, and as a result the Government has decided to restrict the places where that can occur.

Residents of southern Tuggeranong, for example, who would like to be able to exercise their dogs and walk at the same time can do so at Point Hut. That has been designated as a place at which to do that. There is a capacity there to accommodate a quite large number of people doing that; but the exercising of dogs in the Tharwa Bridge area is not permitted. We have, however, consulted with organisations about that decision.

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