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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (4 December) . . Page.. 4546 ..

MS HORODNY (11.14): Mr Speaker, I believe that much misinformation about the noise issue has been put out by the motor sports groups associated with Fairbairn Park and aided by the Minister for Sport, Mr Stefaniak. The amendment to the Environment Protection Regulations proposed by Mr Moore will not impose a new regulation of five decibels above background at the nearest affected residence. This was the rule for many years under the old Noise Control Act. The problem was that the motor sports activities at Fairbairn Park were hardly ever able to achieve this standard and were regularly given exemptions by the Government to allow motor sports to continue with noise levels of 10 and even 15 decibels above background. All that is being proposed by Mr Moore is to bring the Government's proposed regulations back to the previous level so that the Fairbairn motor sport activities have to comply with the same noise laws as everyone else in the ACT is subject to.

If anything, the new regulations will allow a slight increase in noise levels. The old Noise Control Act specifically referred to excessive noise levels relative to the background noise level at a particular location. The amended regulations refer only to a specific noise level of 45 dB (A), which is based on the assumption that the background noise level at the Ridgeway is 40 dB(A). The Ridgeway residents have regularly stated that the background noise levels there on the weekends when motor sport racing is likely to occur are often down to 37 dB(A).

The motor sport clubs also claim that this amended regulation will somehow close down all motor sport in the ACT. This is a total furphy. It should be remembered that the Fairbairn Park complex comprises five different tracks catering for five different types of racing and more than five different types of events. Some types of racing, such as go-karts and mini-bikes, have been able to achieve the plus 5 dB(A) standard. The two noisiest tracks are the hill climb and the formula 500 speedway, but the hill climb area is no longer used and the condition of the speedway has deteriorated to such an extent that races can no longer be held there without a significant upgrade of the track.

It is also misleading to claim that there is a vibrant motor sport industry based around Fairbairn Park that will be destroyed by this move. Anyone who has followed this debate over the years will know that there have been internal disputes within the Fairbairn Park control council about control of the tracks and that there have been various reorganisations of the clubs due to declining support. The motor sport activities that occur at Fairbairn Park are more at a hobby level by a relatively small group of enthusiasts. The viability of commercial motor racing events there is extremely doubtful.

The Fairbairn Park area is certainly not a model of best practice environmental management, either. We had the recent case of building rubble being dumped on the site without approval, and I understand that other tracks on the site, in particular the go-kart track, have been extended in the past without approval. I was advised recently that used sump oil has been regularly poured on the dirt tracks there over the years to provide better traction and to suppress dust. This also included oil from old electricity transformers which potentially contains hazardous PCBs. I referred this matter to the environment protection section earlier this year, and they have now listed this site as potentially contaminated land that needs further investigation. The recently completed preliminary environmental assessment for granting a long-term lease over the site was also quite inadequate and I understand that this proposal has been deferred.

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