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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 12 Hansard (12 November) . . Page.. 4015 ..

MR SPEAKER: I remind members of standing order 114, which states:

Questions may be put to a Minister relating to public affairs with which that Minister is officially connected, to proceedings pending in the Assembly or to any matter of administration for which that Minister is responsible.

MS HORODNY: Mr Speaker, under standing order 116, I have a question for Mr Moore as chair of the Standing Committee on Planning and Environment. Mr Moore, you have, no doubt, seen the press release issued today by Mr Bill Stefaniak in which he claims that the rules that the Government intends to impose have the same noise limits as would have applied to a New South Wales facility classified as existing at the time the New South Wales regulations were introduced. That level is 10 decibels above the ambient background noise at the nearest affected residence. Did your committee take any evidence which supports this claim by Mr Stefaniak, including evidence from the Environment Protection Authority in New South Wales?

MR SPEAKER: I will allow the question because a question of the same nature was allowed last Thursday, but I would remind members that that matter is still under investigation by the Clerks and I will be making a statement in due course. You have a puzzled expression, Ms McRae. It refers to whether a member still has charge of a report which has been tabled in the Assembly.

Ms McRae: He has not. You do not need any profound research for that; he has not. But, if you allow the question, you allow the question - end of story.

MR SPEAKER: I will allow it.

MR MOORE: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank Ms Horodny for the question. Indeed, I have seen the press release in which Mr Stefaniak says that the rules that the Government intends to impose have the same noise levels as would have applied to a New South Wales facility existing at the same time as the New South Wales regulations were introduced. That level is 10 decibels above the ambient background noise for the nearest affected residence. That is according to Mr Stefaniak. The evidence which was presented to the committee and which the committee made public on this issue is a letter from the Environment Protection Authority in New South Wales. It reads as follows:

Additionally, it has been reported in the press -

they did run a series of issues not to do with this part -

that the ACT Government is considering drafting a specific Regulation for the Fairbairn Park motor sport facilities. The reports indicate that the proposal will bring the ACT approach in to line with that of NSW.

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