Page 4320 - Week 13 - Thursday, 4 December 2014
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The minister said:
We will have to take that on notice. I understood it was west Belconnen, but I am reluctant to speculate.
I think it is important that we learn from the past regarding this scheme. A glance at the media and Hansard at the time reveals community concerns about the storage of asbestos in Palmerston and west Belconnen. On 6 August 1991 the then Minister for Urban Services said in the Assembly regarding asbestos:
… in the ACT it is packaged in two layers of plastic and boxed, the crates are securely bound with wire, and it is then buried under at least three metres of topsoil.
The minister went on:
It is not correct to say that the asbestos tip at West Belconnen is going to be quarantined by 1,500 metres, whereas that is not happening at Gungahlin. If any development goes ahead in that area—it is a matter that is with my colleague Mr Wood—the proposals indicate a 1,500-metre quarantine zone around the ordinary landfill tip, and that is there principally because of nuisance and convenience. Tips tend to emit noxious odours, and bits of paper and plastic fly around. The 1,500-metre cordon is around the tip, and the hazardous waste site is within the tip. It is not because of the hazard of asbestos.
The minister went on:
At Gungahlin the asbestos area is being planted as a park; nothing will ever be built on it. The Australian Survey Office is very accurately marking where the asbestos is buried. That will be marked on all the survey maps of the ACT well into the future. Nothing will ever be built there; no trenches will ever be dug. The asbestos will be entirely safe. This is a piece of alarmism, extraordinarily directed at the actions of the former Government.
Well, Madam Speaker, the government is planning to construct a road on or near this site in Palmerston; therefore recommendation 52 of the inquiry is particularly worth while, namely:
The Committee recommends that with regard to the Palmerston/Crace asbestos landfill site study that the ACT Government table the report in the ACT Legislative Assembly within three sitting days of receipt by Government.
Much more could be said on the west Belconnen landfill site—transportation, clearing and other issues related to the schemes. However, I will now turn my attention to planning issues.
The government’s plans to allow unit titling of dual occupancies in RZI areas is interesting. I understand the government’s intention to reap a high yield from the blocks to offset the expenses associated with the scheme. However, the land use planning in the ACT is meant to be a broad framework which details the appropriate
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