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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 1 Hansard (8 December) . . Page.. 3952 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

The commission's main conclusion, not surprisingly, was that departments and agencies could do much more to implement ESD. It found five major impediments that limited the extent of ESD implementation, namely, a lack of understanding of what constituted ES-related policies, the complexities of information and data requirements for ESD policies, failure to adopt good policy-making practices, deficiencies in intra- and intergovernmental coordination in policy-making, and the lack of a long-term policy focus. Fortunately, the commission believed that these impediments were surmountable and put forward a range of recommendations to address these deficiencies.

Of relevance to this Bill is that the commission thought that departments and agencies should regularly and as a matter of course monitor the efficiency and effectiveness of their ESD-related policies, programs and regulations. It pointed out that monitoring is a critical element of any management system. It provides a feedback to allow ongoing improvement and offers a means of enhancing accountability, which may also improve performance.

The commission also pointed out that there was a lack of clarity about what constitutes ESD-related policies. There was a wrong perception that ESD was just about the natural environment. The commission pointed out that ESD implementation is largely about good practice policy-making. It is about the consideration of all costs and benefits - public, private, short term, long term, environmental, economic and social - and attempting to integrate these factors.

I believe that this deficiency is very evident in ACT authorities; in fact, in the whole approach of this Government. I have found it quite disappointing that a number of ACT authorities have ESD incorporated into their objectives, often as a result of Green amendments, yet there is little evidence that these authorities have really understood the implications that this objective should have for their decision-making.

Requiring government authorities to include in their annual reports a report on their implementation of ESD would not, by itself, change the way that government authorities or government itself operates, but it would certainly force them to start thinking about how their decisions now will impact on the ability of future generations to be able to enjoy as good a quality of life as that we currently enjoy. This is really what ESD is all about. It will also allow the Assembly and the broader community to scrutinise more easily what the authorities are doing to promote ESD.

The contents of this Bill have the backing of the Federal Government. If the Federal Government is prepared to take on this reporting responsibly, I can see no reason why the ACT Government, which has a much simpler administrative structure than the Federal Government, also should not be able to take on this responsibility. I commend this Bill to the Assembly.

Debate (on motion by Mr Corbell ) adjourned.

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