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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 09 Hansard (Tuesday, 17 August 2004) . . Page.. 3760 ..

MR WOOD (Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Urban Services, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for Arts and Heritage, and Acting Minister for Health) (6.17): I move amendment No 1 circulated in my name [see schedule 3 at page 3803].

I table a supplementary explanatory statement to the amendments. Amendment No 1 tidies up the previous drafting and makes clear that functions under the act must be carried out to conserve heritage places and objects and that actions that adversely affect the heritage significance of places and objects can only be approved if there is no prudent and feasible alternative.

Amendment agreed to.

Clause 3, as amended, agreed to.

Clause 4.

MR WOOD (Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Urban Services, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for Arts and Heritage, and Acting Minister for Health) (6.18): Mr Speaker, the government will be opposing this clause in its own legislation and urging the Assembly to do likewise. This clause makes reference to the Tree Protection Bill 2004, which is not going to be passed in this Assembly, so we simply need to remove the clause because it is not applicable to anything.

MRS DUNNE (6.18): Mr Speaker, on the understanding that the tree protection legislation will not be passed—I have not had definitive advice from the Minister for Environment, although I have asked for it—the opposition will be supporting this amendment, simply because the tree protection legislation as it currently stands is flawed and needs to be held over. I am taking that as formal advice that we will not be addressing the flawed Tree Protection Bill.

MS DUNDAS (6.19): I am happy to oppose this clause. As the minister pointed out and as I understand, the Tree Protection Bill 2004 is not likely to be passed in the life of this Assembly. I hope that it will never be passed as it is a flawed bill of little substance. It is therefore important that the Heritage Council retain the ability to register individual trees. I only wish that this bill had been in place prior to the removal of trees in Nettlefold Street. The Assembly needs no reminder of the inaction of the government in sitting on the sidelines and just watching as five significant trees were destroyed on 26 February this year.

Clause 4 negatived.

Clauses 5 to 7, by leave, taken together and agreed to.

Proposed new clause 7A.

MR WOOD (Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Urban Services, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for Arts and

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