Page 4861 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 11 November 2009
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(d) the Government will not proceed to implement the Urban Forest Renewal Program until the Commissioner’s report has been received and responded to; and
(e) trees that pose a significant risk to the public will continue to be pruned and, where necessary, removed. An enhanced process of consultation will occur with affected residents including the opportunity to discuss risk mitigation options.”.
The shadow minister for territory and municipal services has circulated an amendment which, I must say, I think is quite sensible and reasonable. Anyway, excuse my blushes!
To summarise the government’s position, the government accepts the legitimacy of many of the issues which Ms Le Couteur raises but, in the context of where we are up to—where we are going and what we are doing—we have got an urban tree maintenance program. The current tranche involves 282 trees which had been certified by ACT rangers as dead, dying, in decline or dangerous, and we have a duty of care, most particularly in relation to those that are dangerous, to remove them. And we will continue to do that.
But there certainly has been some agitation and community concern expressed. There has been political intervention in relation to almost every single tree that has been removed, that has been identified as dead, dangerous, in decline or dying.
Mr Rattenbury: Really? Where is your evidence for that, Jon?
MR STANHOPE: Evidence for what?
Mr Rattenbury: Political interference on every single tree.
MR STANHOPE: I did not say “political interference”. I said “political involvement”.
Mr Rattenbury: You did.
MR STANHOPE: I did not say “interference”. No, I said “involvement”. I did not say “interference”. I said “involvement”.
Mr Rattenbury: Let us see some evidence of that then.
MR STANHOPE: I see it on the front page of today’s paper and I see it on page 3 of today’s paper.
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Rattenbury, please do not interject. You have not got the floor at the moment.
MR STANHOPE: I see it on page 3 of today’s paper. I see it in a motion about to be moved. I see it in correspondence to the Commissioner for Sustainability and the
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