Page 4006 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 12 December 2006
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Then there was methane mining at the tip. We went back into the tip at Mugga Lane, put the pipes in and sucked out the methane. We are now running electricity generation off that. There was the threatened species action plans. We were the first jurisdiction to complete all of the action plans for our threatened species. In fact, we were the first jurisdiction to go back and actually review them. That was another first for the previous government.
When it came to building design and setting the example, I refer to the Tidbinbilla Visitor Centre. The water system that supports it is environmentally friendly—the previous government yet again. We built several hundred adaptable and accessible aged persons units to enable people to stay in place as they aged. We also built buildings that could be reused—again the previous government.
The Stromlo mini-hydro system was put in place so that electricity could be generated from the movement of water. There was also the land back into the reserve system. Mr Humphries needs to be acknowledged as the man who moved an entire town centre to save a threatened ecosystem. We also said that we would not build on Jerrabomberra. We started the process to put that back into the reserve system in East O’Malley. There was the woody weed removal. We basically removed all the willows from ACT creeks and restored them to the way they should be. That was started under the previous government.
The previous government introduced the water tune-up program in ACT Housing, the water legislation, the differential vehicle registration, and programs to restock fish and to re-establish the environment for native fish. Work was done by the previous government to establish groynes in the river to allow deep pooling where the fish could breed.
We signed up to the national packaging accord so that producers of packaging took responsibility for that which they produced. The grey water mining at Southwell Park was started under the previous government. That has now been extended around a fair bit of the ACT, but not nearly enough because of the lack of commitment from this government.
School programs were started under the previous government. Greenchoice, Greenfleet and earth charter were done by the previous government. I give credit to Ms Tucker because she brought earth charter to my attention. We funded the earth charter conference which was to be funded in South Australia, but that did not occur. At the last moment the ACT Liberal government stepped in and brought earth charter to the ACT.
There were discussions in previous Assemblies about whether or not we as a jurisdiction would sign up to the earth charter. We did. We were the first in Australia to do it. That is leadership. That is sustainability. We also provided support to Revolve. We were there. At the national level, the NEPMs on things like diesel and air quality were signed by the previous government. I refer to the urban forest system, particularly in Tuggeranong, which connects five schools, some of which are about to close. I refer to the excellent work done by Tony Graham. That was all work of the previous government.
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