Page 1554 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 31 March 2009
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think that is something that the government needs to look at very closely and think hard about how it is going to take action. I think the commissioner has identified that as another area of importance, and something I am certainly concerned about is the possible realignment of Majura Road and the impact that it might have on grasslands in these areas, as well as the impact it might have on mountain biking facilities and other community assets in the Majura Valley. I think that these are questions that need to be addressed quickly as part of the commissioner’s recommendations and as part of the government’s response.
So I would like to conclude by saying that, as I noted at the start, I welcome the fact that the minister tabled in the Assembly last week the report prepared by the Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment. I do note that Dr Cooper was assisted in the preparation of the report by a number of scientists—namely, Dr Ken Hodgkinson, Ms Sarah Sharp and Dr Lyn Hinds. The report was also reviewed by a panel of experts prior to its release. I think that that underlines the comments I was making earlier about the quality and the depth of the report. I think it underlines the fact that the government needs to take this report seriously, and that we need to look at the considerable number of recommendations made by the commissioner.
I look forward to receiving the government’s response to this report; it is something that the Greens are very focused on. We do need to protect the grasslands in the ACT, our habitat, and it is important for the government to take action soon and respond to this report in a timely manner. I look forward to receiving those recommendations and having a further debate in this place about what steps the government will take in order to ensure that protection.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (11.22): This is an important report, and I congratulate the Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment on her report and for the thorough process that she has gone through to provide this report to the Assembly and, through the Assembly, to the people of the ACT. I would like to acknowledge, as Mr Rattenbury has done, the substantial scientific backing for this report. The fact that this has been peer reviewed before its publication shows that this is a report that we in this Assembly and the government must take very seriously.
This report puts a huge responsibility on anyone who is a land manager in the ACT and who has responsibility for some of our endangered grasslands. This gives us an opportunity to have a very substantial rethink on the way we manage our native grasslands in the ACT so that we manage them for the future.
The Canberra Liberals have a proud history in relation to the lowland grassland reserves in the ACT. It was the Canberra Liberals under my former boss, Gary Humphries, who was the environment minister at the time, that moved the Gungahlin town centre. We moved an entire town centre and set aside substantial areas, at substantial cost to a struggling ACT economy at the time, to ensure the Gungahlin grassland reserves were maintained and that the endangered species dependent upon those grasslands were also maintained.
Over time, there has been a range of areas that have been put into reserve to address this, but, at the same time, we have seen some extraordinarily poor land management
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