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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 4 Hansard (16 April) . . Page.. 927 ..

MRS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, I am at a loss to know what Commonwealth redundancies have to do with current forecasts for revenue in the ACT. By current, I mean right now; what is happening right at this moment. Mr Speaker, if Mr Wood is after a comment on how revenue in the ACT is tracking at this moment, let me say that, before there has been one redundancy offered from the Federal Government - as I have been quite open about and as our financial reports have shown very definitely - yes, there is a shortfall in revenue in the ACT at this stage; yes, our projections in conveyancing and other areas are not on target at all. We have made that very clear, and we have made it very clear in this place.

To try to answer his question on what hypothetical future reductions in the APS could or would produce, No. 1, we would need to know how many we were talking about. But, as I said in my first answer to the question, yes, that modelling is being done. Some of it has already been done, and we have already approached John Howard and have made it very clear that we would expect ACT funding to be appropriately compensated for any reductions outside the 2,500 that were promised in the Federal election campaign.

MS HORODNY: My question is to the Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning, Mr Humphries. Mr Humphries, under section 114 of the Land Act, certain development proposals which have a high probability of environmental impact require a mandatory preliminary environmental assessment. The types of development proposals that require mandatory assessments are prescribed in Appendix II to the Territory Plan. One of the items in that appendix states that proposals on sites listed on the ACT contaminated sites register require a mandatory assessment. Given the growing evidence for the existence of a significant number of contaminated sites in the ACT and the community concern about the Government's management of these sites, could you tell me whether the ACT contaminated sites register actually exists and whether it is available for public perusal?

MR HUMPHRIES: Ms Horodny, you do not need to ask me whether a contaminated sites register exists. If you look at your own press release, issued earlier today, you will find that it does not exist. Mr Speaker, let me say how angry I am to see releases like this put out and, presumably, legislation that this press release foreshadows coming forward. The Assembly has called together an inquiry, through its Standing Committee on Planning and Environment, into the whole question of the way in which contaminated sites have been handled. This Government supports that inquiry. It is an important inquiry to take place. It is a sensitive issue. We realise that an issue of how to manage those sorts of issues does need to be carefully examined, and an Assembly committee is quite appropriate to do that.

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