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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (4 December) . . Page.. 4600 ..

MR CORBELL: Mr Speaker, I seek leave to speak again.

Leave granted.

MR CORBELL: I thank members. I will speak only very briefly. I thank members for their support for the Labor Party's amendment to Mr Moore's motion. We firmly believe that the amendment which the Labor Party is proposing is a sensible one and a sensible outcome both for motor sports - and the activities of the various motor sport groups at Fairbairn Park - and residents who live close to Fairbairn Park. We believe it is sensible because it allows for a consistent law to be in place across the Territory, not one that just singles out Fairbairn Park for particular treatment. Motor sport in the Territory will be dealt with fairly right across the Territory, without Fairbairn Park being singled out for particular treatment. It will also make sure that parties on both sides have the opportunity to appeal against a decision of the EMA. Again, that is a fair process and a process which should be consistent across the Territory.

The Labor Party has no wish whatsoever to see motor sport disappear from the Territory. It is a quite legitimate pursuit for many people in the Territory. Whilst there are some people who do not like motor sport - there are some people who do not like rugby, soccer or any code of football - it is still a legitimate sporting activity and its supporters are entitled to have the opportunity to participate in it in the Territory and to participate in a way which is consistent across the Territory, not just at Fairbairn Park. That is the intent of the Labor Party's amendment. I thank those members who indicated their support for the amendment.

MR HUMPHRIES (Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning) (4.10): I want to make a couple of brief comments about this. First of all, I think we need to bear in mind that the proposal put forward by the Labor Party - none of them are here at the moment - amounts to a fairly significant challenge to the Environment Management Authority to develop now some regime that is going to be acceptable to all the parties concerned. If history is any indication, that task will be the equivalent of cleaning out the Augean stables. I do not think that we have necessarily made a decision about this matter. It could be truer to say that we have simply asked somebody else to make the decision. The real battle about what is to be the acceptable level of noise from Fairbairn Park has been shifted to another forum. Whether or not that is really a great achievement, I cannot say; but it is certainly a matter that will place a burden on officers within my department, those who constitute the Environment Management Authority, to now work out some acceptable arrangement. I would appeal to members to be tolerant of that process; to accept that difficult decisions need to be made and that balances and judgments need to be exercised in that process; and that not everybody necessarily will be satisfied at the end of the day.

The other point I note, Mr Speaker, with some wryness is the words of Mr Corbell back on 4 November when the Standing Committee on Planning and Environment handed down its report on the Environment Protection Bill and the regulations, when I was enjoined very solemnly by Mr Corbell to accept each and every one of the recommendations with great seriousness. In fact, he said:

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