Page 2041 - Week 07 - Thursday, 4 June 2015
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energy prices and that improving energy efficiency in these homes decreases cost of living pressures. Continuing the EEIS to 2020 will ensure at least 20 per cent of energy savings from the EEIS are achieved in these households.
In summary, continuing the EEIS to 2020 will continue to deliver significant benefits to households and small to medium enterprises, contributing to the ACT’s transition to a low carbon economy while looking after those most in need. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
Debate (on motion by Ms Lawder) adjourned to the next sitting.
Water Resources (Catchment Management Coordination Group) Amendment Bill 2015
Mr Corbell, pursuant to notice, presented the bill, its explanatory statement and a Human Rights Act compatibility statement.
Title read by Clerk.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Deputy Chief Minister, Attorney-General, Minister for Health, Minister for the Environment and Minister for Capital Metro) (10.51): I move:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
This bill amends the Water Resources Act 2007 to establish the ACT and Region Catchment Management Coordination Group.
There is a paramount need to protect the water supply and water quality of the ACT and region for the community’s needs and to protect the environment. At the same time catchment management is not just confined to our streams and lakes but also involves the coordination of the management of the surrounding terrestrial systems—water and land are interconnected. Human activities inevitably affect our catchments and there is a need to plan and manage our water and land resources on an integrated basis.
The Catchment Management Coordination Group will cover not only the ACT but also the water catchments of the surrounding upper Murrumbidgee region. To effectively manage the catchments of the ACT and the surrounding region requires the involvement of the New South Wales government and the local government areas in surrounding New South Wales. This is acknowledged by the ACT government and has been occurring for some time now on an interim basis. This bill provides for this new group to be cemented in legislation to help underpin the implementation of cross-border water management in the ACT and the surrounding region.
The need and recognition for the establishment of a catchment management group has been stated for some time by this government. It is an action item under the ACT’s water strategy, Striking the balance, which was released in August last year. Moreover, a number of reports on the state of the ACT’s catchments and Lake Burley Griffin have indicated the need to put in place a catchment management group
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