Mr Speaker

Members will recall that on 2 September 1998, the Assembly resolved to refer the existing petrol sites policy and draft contaminated sites legislation to the Urban Services Committee. The Committee subsequently tabled its report on the service station policy on 18 February 1999.

The Government welcomes the Urban Services Committee Report and fully supports the general intent of the Report, which seeks to clarify a number of aspects of the service station policy and the draft contaminated sites legislation.

The detail of the Government's response to the Committee's Report is set out in the formal response I am tabling today. However, I should just take a few moments to summarise the key elements of that response:

With the introduction of the Environment Protection Act and the Environment Protection (Amendment) Bill 1999 dealing with contaminated sites the ACT will have comprehensive environmental legislation which deals with all aspects of contaminated land including service station sites.

The Environment Protection (Amendment) Bill 1999 introduces a regulatory framework for the management of contaminated sites which includes adopting relevant national guidelines, the "polluter pays" principle and a scheme for the independent audit of contaminated sites.

The Government's policy on service station sites has been effective in

encouraging these sites to continue operation as an ongoing concern for the benefit of the community, including facilitating entry of independent fuel retailers to promote competition in the ACT.

Overall, I believe that, in light of this Report and the Government's response, the ACT community can feel confident that all issues associated with service station sites are managed through an open process, to the benefit of the community in accordance with the highest standards of best practice.