Page 2472 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 13 August 2014
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We will also hire an extra five nature conservation rangers, review the Nature Conservation Act 1980, and bring all nature conservation functions into one Directorate
Further, the ACT Labor-Greens agreement states at article 3.12:
Merge the ACT’s existing conservation services into a single Conservation Agency to achieve better integration of biodiversity policy, planning, research and management;
Minister Rattenbury stated on 20 March 2013:
I am particularly pleased to see tripartisan support in the Assembly for a single, integrated conservation agency.
On 20 March 2013 Mr Corbell stated:
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.
Mr Smyth moved a motion in 2013. I moved a similar motion earlier this year. Madam Speaker, it is one of the few issues in this place where we all seem to furiously agree. So I ask what would seem to be a simple question: why then has this not been done? On 26 February 2014, the last time we brought this to the Assembly, the Chief Minister said:
I will tell the Assembly that I am looking to align that with the appointment of the sixth minister.
I ask again, Madam Speaker: why has this not been done? Fast forward to the past few weeks and now we have recommendation 76 of the estimates committee report which states:
The Committee recommends that the Government establish as a priority the single Nature Conservation Agency.
To which the government’s response was:
All administrative arrangements are the responsibility of the Chief Minister.
But here we are in a situation where the one and only Greens member in this place wants this to be implemented. We have the Labor Party promising that this would be implemented. We have the Conservation Council and community groups in the sector wanting this to be implemented. We have the Canberra Liberals wanting this to be implemented. We have had motions on this pass in this place. It is in the Labor-
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