Page 4369 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 25 October 2017
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(iii) reporting to the Assembly on commencement of these reviews and progress on developing the Living Infrastructure Plan;
(b) within two years of this motion being passed:
(i) commence delivery of actions to increase Canberra’s tree canopy cover overall, focussing on suburbs where tree canopy cover is low;
(ii) completing the joint reviews of the Territory Plan and TCCS infrastructure design standards;
(iii) completing the review of the Tree Protection Act;
(iv) delivering a framework for assessment of tree canopy cover and condition, which allows monitoring of cover against the targets and improved management of the ACT Government’s trees; and
(v) reporting to the Assembly on the delivery of these activities; and
(c) within three years of this motion being passed, reporting to the Assembly on the delivery of these activities by the last sitting day in July 2020.”.
My amendment in effect is identical to Ms Le Couteur’s amendment but provides some different details on the time frames in which certain actions will be taken. I think that that will allow us to get on with the important job of reviewing the Territory Plan and the infrastructure design standards that are important within TCCS within one year; within the second year, starting to deliver actions to increase Canberra’s tree canopy, completing these joint reviews—and they are linked, as has been discussed—between the Territory Plan and the infrastructure design standards, and delivering a framework for the assessment of the tree canopy cover and conditions that allow ongoing monitoring to make sure that our tree canopy can be increased; and, within three years, reporting back to the Assembly on the delivery of these activities by the last sitting day in July.
We recognise the need to grow and maintain our urban forest and our overall living infrastructure. The role of the Tree Protection Act is paramount in this, and we look forward to it being reviewed and those recommendations being considered by government over the coming years.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella—Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Minister for Planning and Land Management and Minister for Urban Renewal) (5.20): I thank Ms Le Couteur for her motion. I will be supporting Ms Fitzharris’s amendment to the motion. The bush capital, the garden city, a city and a landscape; these and many other terms have been used to describe the unique setting in which Canberra, the nation’s capital, sits. And the one thing all of these titles have in common is the creation of a substantial urban forest which frames Canberra’s city and suburbs. Canberra is known as the bush capital for its highly valued open spaces such as the hills, ridges and buffers throughout our city.
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