Page 1150 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 20 March 2013
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This is a reasonable motion. It gives a reasonable time frame. I would simply look for members’ support to make it happen.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations and Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development) (4.15): I move the amendment circulated in my name:
Omit all words after “That this Assembly”, substitute:
“(1) notes:
(a) the ACT Labor-Greens Parliamentary Agreement commits the ACT Government to establishing a single conservation agency to achieve better integration of biodiversity policy, planning, research and management; and
(b) implementation of the proposal is currently under consideration by government.”.
The motion before the Assembly today directs the government to establish a nature conservation agency within the Territory and Municipal Services Directorate by 1 July this year. The parliamentary agreement for the Eighth Legislative Assembly commits the government to merge the ACT’s existing conservation services into a single conservation agency to achieve better integration of biodiversity planning, policy, research and management.
The government acknowledges this commitment and is currently working on its implementation. The timing for administrative changes is, of course, at the discretion of the Chief Minister. It is not a matter for the legislature to interfere in a prerogative of the executive. It would be irresponsible to rush the establishment of a nature conservation agency by setting an arbitrary time frame of 1 July 2013. Therefore, I do not support the motion as presented today and I am proposing the amendment that I have just moved.
At this time the government is giving close consideration to the functions to be included in the nature conservation agency and the directorate in which the agency is best to be located. Core conservation functions are currently undertaken cooperatively by the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate and the Territory and Municipal Services Directorate. The Conservator of Flora and Fauna, conservator support, environmental policy, research, conservation planning and natural resource management programs are undertaken within the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate.
An important point to make is that the work of this directorate addresses issues across all tenures—rural leases, urban environments, and parks and reserves. Other functions relating to nature conservation undertaken within the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate include water policy and catchment management, environment protection, climate change—in particular climate change adaptation—and planning.
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