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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 1 Hansard (16 February) . . Page.. 189 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

That deserves to be put to rest right from the start. What you see from this Government is its leadership in the regional leaders forum. You are going to the shire presidents on Friday. I think there was an invitation there from Mr Hird this morning for Ms Tucker to go and explain her stance to the shire presidents. When we deliver the State of the Environment Report - in clear acknowledgment that we are part of a region and that environment issues do not know the boundaries that we draw on maps - it encompasses the region.

For instance, when talking on water issues, I constantly acknowledge that the water that flows in from surrounding New South Wales flows back into surrounding New South Wales and that we must act as a region. Ms Tucker refuses to acknowledge that. There is another thing that Ms Tucker, in her initial speech, refused to acknowledge. I quote from the Hansard:

That is at odds with the constant activity we have around the ACT and the constant discussions we have with other groups in New South Wales. All the timber marketed by ACT Forests is derived from plantation forests. These belong to the ACT Government, the New South Wales Government or private owners in the region. We discuss these issues with them all the time. The ACT Government, for instance, supports the 2020 vision to triple the area of plantations in Australia. To that end, ACT Forests is an active participant in the Southern Tablelands farm forestry network, which is actively supporting the establishment of new plantations in the region.

But more importantly to the regional forest agreement process, Environment ACT has contributed flora and fauna data to the comprehensive regional assessment that is a necessary prerequisite before you can get to the RFA. ACT Forests has a regular business relationship with New South Wales forest agencies and businesses; however, we are different from them slightly in that all ACT forest activity is confined to plantation source timber. Right through Ms Tucker's speech, we see assertions that really need to be countered.

The key point in this debate was made by the Chief Minister when she spoke in December. Her very first sentence was that we have absolutely no responsibility or control over this issue. It is not our responsibility. This process is clearly defined. Ms Tucker is always on about getting the process right. This process has been set up and it sees the consideration being between the jurisdiction and the Federal Government to establish the RFAs. The brochure that Ms Tucker got this idea from states:

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