Page 6147 - Week 14 - Thursday, 9 December 2010
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Plans are well advanced to strengthen management and community engagement with Canberra’s important natural areas through the establishment of a trust to manage the Mulligans Flat woodlands and the Jerrabomberra wetland reserves. There are also plans to expand the endangered wildlife breeding program at Tidbinbilla with the aim of releasing animals back into reserves.
On the issue of community safety, Canberra is already one of the safest cities in the nation. The government will continue to invest in public safety over the next 12 months. The ESA is finalising relocation to its purpose-built headquarters at Fairbairn, and the ESA’s new training centre at Hume is also nearing completion. The Snowy Hydro rescue helicopter base at Hume is being upgraded, as is the Rural Fire Service helicopter hangar.
These are just some of the initiatives the government has invested in to improve our city. Canberra is a great city. Labor in government will continue to bring enthusiasm and vision, delivering on its commitments and making this city a greater place for all Canberrans.
MR SPEAKER: The time for the discussion has now expired.
Planning and Development (Environmental Impact Statements) Amendment Bill 2010
Detail stage
Clause 1.
Debate resumed.
Clause 1 agreed to.
Clauses 2 to 34, by leave, taken together.
MS LE COUTEUR (Molonglo) (5.04), by leave: I move amendments Nos 2 to 20 circulated in my name together [see schedule 3 at page 6173].
I present the Greens’ amendments to the bill that is before us today. Before lunch, when we discussed this bill in principle, I was under the impression that some of our amendments would be supported. However, I understand now that that is not the case.
The Greens’ amendments are an opportunity to improve the EIS exemption process, more than what has been proposed by ACTPLA. At present the government exempts most residential subdivision proposals from the requirement to produce an EIS. This is done on the basis of what the government calls “exhaustive studies” but actually are no replacement for an open, transparent, accountable EIS process.
The Greens would have found it acceptable to reduce the triggers for all future urban area developments to have EISs as long as environmental assessment, with public input and merits review opportunities, was part of the process. This could have
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