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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (28 August) . . Page.. 2596 ..

MS TUCKER: I seek leave to make a couple of comments.

Leave granted.

MS TUCKER: I would just like to make a couple of comments because I was actually living in the suburb where the alleged contamination was. For that reason I did not take a very high profile on this issue in the Assembly. I thought it could look in some ways as if I was just concerned about my own experience. But it did give me the opportunity to experience first-hand how it feels when you do think that possibly the land that you live on is poisoned. It was, indeed, very personally distressing for me, even though I knew that the area I lived in was not in the very central area. Just the uncertainty of it meant that I felt uncomfortable about my garden, gardening and so on. I spoke a lot with my neighbours who had similar feelings. One woman, I remember, said, "I am putting all my plants in pots now". That might sound like no big deal; but, in fact, it is on a deep level very disturbing. I am pleased that the report has been as thorough as it has been and has looked at these issues. My personal experience and my neighbours' experiences regarding getting information and the fact that the community was not confident that the Government was on top of this issue meant that it was very concerning. Everyone felt very insecure. I hope that there will be lessons learnt from how this was managed. I hope that it never does arise again, but if similar sorts of concerns arise I hope that there will be processes in place which will deal with them better.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

MR SPEAKER: It being 45 minutes after the commencement of Assembly business, consideration of Assembly business is interrupted in accordance with standing order 77.

MR WHITECROSS (11.45): Mr Speaker, I present Report No. 27 of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, entitled "Report on the ACT Government Draft Asset Management Strategy", together with extracts of the minutes of proceedings, and I move:

That the report be noted.

Audit report No. 11 of 1996 was presented to the Assembly on 12 December last year. The ACT draft asset management strategy was presented to the Assembly on 27 February and referred to the committee for inquiry and report. The draft asset management strategy provides a framework or blueprint intended to facilitate asset management by ACT government departments and agencies. It includes a philosophical framework, objectives and principles which are linked to key service delivery areas and asset groupings, and guidelines for managing major property and infrastructure assets. The committee sought community views on the draft strategy, consulted with the Office of Financial Management and took evidence in a public hearing. The committee values the responses from a range of organisations.

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