Page 2282 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 1 November 1989
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Debate (on motion by Ms Follett) adjourned.
CONSERVATION, HERITAGE AND ENVIRONMENT - STANDING COMMITTEE
Report
MR HUMPHRIES (10.56): Mr Speaker, I present the report of the inquiry by the Standing Committee on Conservation, Heritage and Environment into environmental aspects and consequences of the stocking of the National Aquarium project, and I move:
That the recommendations be agreed to.
Mr Speaker, when the standing committee was established on 25 May this year its terms of reference included the ability of the committee to inquire into matters considered by the committee to be "of concern to the community". Under this power of inquiry, the committee undertook to respond to perceived concerns within the community over the environmental aspects of the National Aquarium project, which is adjacent to Scrivener Dam.
I should say at this point that it is, in my view, wholly appropriate that the committee have such a flexible power as to be able to consider matters of concern to the community. This is highly desirable, and situations such as this demonstrate my belief. I will refer later to the circumstances by which this issue arose for public inquiry by the committee.
Given the constraints of the time available to the committee, I believe that a thorough investigation of the issues entailed in this inquiry was achieved. Although the committee did not consider it appropriate to advertise for public submissions, it nonetheless publicised its inquiry through the media and sought the opinions of those persons and bodies who the committee felt were key players.
The committee met with officers of the ACT Administration and obtained the files relevant to the project of both the Administration and the Federal Department of Arts, Sport, the Environment, Tourism and Territories. The committee also took evidence formally from Mr Geoff Da Deppo, the developer and the proponent of the project, and from the curator of the project. The committee visited the site of the project and also inspected drainage and sewerage diagrams in the possession of ACT Electricity and Water.
It is worth noting that this project spanned the period before and after the advent of self-government for the Territory and, as such, originally came under the auspices of the Federal department known as DASETT and eventually came under the wing of the ACT Administration. Indeed, the continuing role of the Federal Government in overseeing projects of this kind remains unclear in light of two facts. The first is the uncertain status of the land on
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