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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 11 Hansard (29 November) . . Page.. 3381 ..

MR SMYTH: I thank Mr Hird for his question. This matter is very important because the accusation is often made that this government does not engage in long-term planning. The fact that we can determine that a block of land that possibly would have been used for a new town some 30 years from now is no longer appropriate does say that this government has a long-term vision of where it will take this city and this territory.

This government is widely recognised as the most environmentally responsible government in Australia. This is based on our record for things like our No Waste by 2010 strategy and our record on developing and implementing a greenhouse strategy. It is recognised world wide that urban sprawl is now a major environmental problem. Indeed, the whole question of urban sprawl was raised at a recent conference attended by the OECD.

Urban sprawl is now a particular problem in Canberra. Since 1960 our population has increased sixfold. Since the 1960s the space occupied by the Canberra metropolitan area has increased 12 times. As a result of urban sprawl we have reduced the habitats of endangered species and we have used up more resources than a city of our size really should. In addition, this urban sprawl has reduced the viability of services such as schools and shops to existing suburbs and greatly increased the cost of providing services to Canberrans. I think it will now be acknowledged that the government has had the courage to stand up against urban sprawl.

The Jerrabomberra Valley has long been identified as a future area to be developed when the current town centres had grown to peak capacity. In 20 years time the Jerrabomberra Valley would have provided a new town that would have been built up to the size of Western Creek. But in recent years, through the action plans that this government has put in place-and I believe that we are the first government to complete all of our action plans on endangered species-there has been concern over the presence of native temperate grassland habitat in that area. The habitat includes endangered species such as the eastern lined earless dragon, the striped legless lizard and the golden sun moth. In addition, areas of yellow box/red gum grassy woodland endangered communities have now been identified.

A scoping study reviewed the development potential of the Jerrabomberra Valley and found that the area is not suitable for standard suburban residential development because of its environmental importance. As a result, development of a new town at Jerrabomberra will not proceed. We will reserve substantial areas of the Jerrabomberra Valley to protect these threatened species and the habitat in which they live. These areas will not be available for development. However, some of the remainder of the valley which does not have a high environmental value is still suitable for meeting important commercial and community land needs as well as some alternate residential options.

Some development would be possible through the normal planning processes that will be consistent with the environmental action plans. In these areas the types of uses could include broadacre institutional, industrial and commercial activities, telecommunication activities and aviation facilities, some tourist facilities and low impact agriculture such as grazing.

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