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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 11 Hansard (4 November) . . Page.. 3520 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

Mr Speaker, one of the interesting areas we dealt with and on which I think we came to a very good compromise was run-off from the washing of vehicles. When we talk about washing vehicles, the environmental legislation seeks to protect the environment. We know that when people wash their vehicles with water with detergent in it, that detergent, muck off the vehicle, oil and other stuff goes straight into the gutter, down the little holes in the side of the gutter, into the stormwater drains and straight into our waterways. It is important, Mr Speaker, to ensure that we can control that detergent as much as possible.

The first recommendation which the legislation had and we agreed with is that vehicles should be washed, where possible, on a grassed area because in that way very little water goes down. Recognising environmental duty in the legislation, we have also suggested that where people do not have grassed areas - perhaps they live in units, or something - we ought not say to them, "You cannot wash your car"; but we should say to them, "Yes, you can wash your car, but you must take all appropriate actions to protect the environment"; in other words, use less detergent and use less water. Perhaps they should wash their cars, in the initial instance, by using a bucket rather than a hose in order to minimise the amount of water, detergent and gunk going down into our waterways. That recognises people's environmental duty.

Mr Speaker, environmental protection orders and the discretion of the court are other areas we looked at to ensure the court retained discretion, and then we dealt with a couple of other minor and typographical issues. I think it is important, Mr Speaker, to understand that the committee was not attempting to make changes for the sake of changes. We believe that the Bill is a very good piece of legislation and I congratulate the Government for putting it up. I think I am correct in saying it was initiated even before Mr Humphries became Minister. However, he clearly has done a great deal of work on getting this legislation up, as have his departmental officers. It is a fantastic piece of legislation and it has been improved by the processes it went through in the committee system. We carefully considered all the arguments put to us and tried to reach a sensible compromise. I am very proud of the fact that we have a unanimous report.

Finally, Mr Speaker, I would like to put on record my appreciation of other members of the committee for the work they put in on this piece of legislation and the very tight timeframes they kept to, and in particular the work of Ms Sandy MacDonald, the secretary of the committee for this inquiry. Through your good offices, Minister, we were able to second Ms MacDonald to assist us in this inquiry as secretary to the committee. The work she put in and the able way in which she operated gave us the opportunity to come up with a sensible report that enhances the work that the Government has done. This is a system that I would recommend to other committee chairs when they have a task that looks like being a useful task for the whole Assembly, for the Government and for the people of the ACT, and where there are tight timeframes. The approach certainly worked extremely well. Mr Speaker, I commend the report to the Assembly and, for that matter, to the public.

MR SPEAKER: I would like to recognise the presence in the gallery of students in Year 8 at Kaleen High School, who are studying the local government course. Welcome to your Assembly.

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