Page 4858 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 11 November 2009
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public consultation, of communication and of education in relation to the issues that we face.
But I read this morning on the front page of the Canberra Times that the Greens—and I must say it is a pity that my office or my department were not approached or the issue was not discussed with us—
Mr Rattenbury: Do not worry about the facts. Do not let the facts get in the way, mate.
MR STANHOPE: No. I read on the front page of the Canberra Times today that the ACT Greens, and this is confirmed, have approached the commissioner with a view to having an inquiry into this issue. I must say that I think it is a matter of regret that you did not feel the need to consult the minister or his department in relation to your decision or your desire for the government’s attitude to tree maintenance and management to be the subject of an independent review by a statutory commissioner. I think that might even be in breach of the parliamentary agreement, that you actually decided to pursue that issue without any consultation or discussion with me or my department.
Be that as it may, you have done it; you have approached the commissioner; you have sought an independent investigation and review. As a result of the fact that you have initiated that—and I understand why you have done it—I too, subsequent to your approach for that independent assessment inquiry, have sought, in communication with the commissioner, to ensure the terms of reference for any inquiry which the commission will now do actually encompass all of the issues that will allow us, as a government and as a community, to move forward in relation to the management of our street trees and our urban forests. So the government accepts that.
I have circulated an amendment actually acknowledging and noting the steps that have been taken, over and above the moving of this particular motion today. The Greens have, in tandem, moved a motion here in the Assembly, a motion, which it seems to me, the Greens have then allowed to be overtaken by events by simultaneously seeking an independent inquiry by a statutory commissioner into exactly the same issues. So we now have running an inquiry by the commissioner and a motion in the Assembly.
Over and above that of course too, the government, through the department, has been working up a program for urban forest renewal. It seems to me that, if we actually now sequence these, we might as well just commit ourselves to the inquiry, with broad terms of reference, and see what the commissioner has to say.
In the interim, the government has decided not to proceed with the urban renewal program until the commissioner has reported. The commissioner’s current priority is, of course, an inquiry into grassland management and the impacts of drought and kangaroos et cetera. She will need a number of months to conclude that. She will not be able to conclude the inquiry which the Greens have asked for into urban tree management before the end of the financial year. The government, of course, will not pre-empt the outcomes of that; so we will not proceed with the urban tree renewal
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