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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 12 Hansard (11 November) . . Page.. 3923 ..

MR HUMPHRIES: I thank members. Section 216A of the Land (Planning and Environment) Act specifies that a statement be tabled in the Assembly each quarter outlining details of leases granted by direct grant, leases granted to community organisations, leases granted for less than market value and leases granted over public land. The schedule I have just tabled covers leases granted for the period from 1 July to 30 September. I am also tabling two other schedules in relation to variations approved and change of use charges for the same period. A record of all leases and applications to vary crown leases is available for public inspection at my department's shopfront at Dame Pattie Menzies House, 16 Challis Street, Dickson.

MR HUMPHRIES (Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning) (3.19): Mr Speaker, for the information of members, I present the Government's response to the Standing Committee on Planning and Environment Report No. 35 on the Environment Protection Bills. The report was presented on 4 November. I move:

That the Assembly takes note of the paper.

Mr Speaker, as I have said before, the Environment Protection Bill is the most significant piece of environmental legislation introduced by this Government and indeed among the most significant legislation introduced by any ACT government. I welcome the overall support by the Planning and Environment Committee for this legislation. I believe that the committee report is a very reasoned assessment of the issues that relate to the Bill. We all share the same goal of wanting environment protection legislation which ensures a high standard of environmental management for the ACT.

I commend the committee for its commitment to making the scrutiny of the Bill useful and worth while and welcome the spirit of cooperation that the committee members have shown. This spirit of cooperation extended beyond the formal report of the committee, and I am pleased to announce that at a round table meeting held last night the Government and members of the committee were able to reach agreement on all except two of the committee's recommendations and these relate to the new noise policy. The Government has agreed to 49 of the 56 recommendations either totally or in substance. Of the remaining recommendations, I understand that the committee now accepts the Government's position on five of them.

I wish to record that the Environment Protection Bill could not have been, and was not, developed fully by a single author or agency. The Government drew significantly on the advice of a reference group established specifically to advise on this Bill. Members of the reference group gave freely of their time and expertise. I would like to record my thanks to them. In its deliberations, the committee applied the same approach by taking extensive written and oral submissions from stakeholders.

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