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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 2 Hansard (1 March) . . Page.. 493 ..

I ask for leave to make a short statement.

Leave granted.

MR SMYTH: Under the National Environment Protection Act 1994, the government is required to table National Environment Protection Council (known as NEPC) annual reports within seven sitting days of the council's adoption of the report. The 1999-2000 NEPC annual report was adopted by the council at its meeting on 15 December 2000. The report covers the activities of the council, the operation of the service corporation that supports the council, and the implementation and effectiveness of national environment protection measures, or NEPMs.

In 1999-2000 year, NEPC finalised two National Environment Protection Measures. These related to guidelines for the assessment of contaminated sites and management of used packaging materials. The National Pollutant Inventory was varied to give industry an additional year to report on emissions to the environment. The substances to be reported are nominated in a comprehensive list in the NEPM. This extension will enable industry and governments to refine their emissions reporting systems.

Further development work was undertaken on emissions from diesel vehicles, with a view to developing a NEPM in the 2000-2001 year, in conjunction with the National Road Transport Commission, or NRTC.

The council also developed advice to the federal government on vehicle fuel quality requirements, through the Motor Vehicle Environment Committee, in partnership with the NRTC. Other activities included ongoing support for the development of the air monitoring plans for each of the major Australian cities, under the Ambient Air Quality NEPM, and consideration of risk assessment approaches to establishing and reviewing air quality standards.

The issue of ambient air quality is of particular interest to members of the Assembly. Members may wish to note that there was limited reporting from the ACT on the implementation of this measure, as the 1999-2000 report on ambient air quality is an interim one. The first formal report will be prepared for the 2000-2001 annual report.

The ACT did meet the air quality goal set for this measure for the pollutants that were reported on. Sulphur dioxide is not measured in the ACT, as there is no local source of emissions of this chemical. Lead and particulate matter were measured, but the data were not available at the time of reporting. Data now to hand show that the lead levels in the ACT are less than 20 per cent of the measure's standard, and the goal for particulate matter was met, although the standard was exceeded on several days in winter when climatic conditions trapped smoke from wood fires.

The ACT met all of its requirements for the National Environment Protection Council's 1999-2000 annual report.

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