Page 338 - Week 01 - Thursday, 27 February 2014

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video

I was certainly pleased by and welcome Minister Corbell’s move to make the bill available as an exposure draft. I do note—and Ms Lawder has spoken about this—that some organisations clearly stated they felt there was inadequate time made available for preparation of submissions. I think that was reflected in the fact that when the discussion paper first came out three years ago there were 32 submissions on the initial discussion paper, but in the period available for submissions on the bill there were only eight submissions. I think that reflects not a lack of interest but the fact that people did find it difficult to make a submission in the time that was available, given the extensive complexity and length of the legislation.

For this reason, I think this bill will be best served by a roundtable process, which allows all the relevant and interested people to sit in a room at the same time to discuss the issues in detail. I move the amendment circulated in my name:

Omit all words after “That this Assembly”, substitute:

“(1) notes:

(a) the ACT Nature Conservation Ordinance was initially drafted in 1980 by the Federal Government, and precedes self-government in the ACT;

(b) there have been many iterations of the Nature Conservation Act 1980 since then, and many changes in the ACT’s built and natural environment;

(d) that a draft of the proposed new Nature Conservation Bill was available as an exposure draft for comments during 31 October to 13 December 2013; and

(2) calls on the government to:

(a) establish a roundtable to explore the issues relating to the draft Nature Conservation Bill. This roundtable is to:

(i) be chaired by the Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment;

(ii) include all relevant stakeholders, including:

(A) Territory and Municipal Services Parks and Conservation Service;

(B) Conservation Planning and Research and legislative drafters from the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate;

(D) representatives from each of the three political parties;

(iii) allow sufficient time for full discussion of the issues; and

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video