Page 766 - Week 02 - Thursday, 25 February 2010
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prisoners. In relation to Mr Boland’s term, no official visits by Mr Boland have yet commenced but I am advised that he is meeting with prisoners tomorrow and will commence his official visits on Monday.
Yesterday, in question time, Mrs Dunne and a number of other members of the opposition asked me a series of questions, initially starting with plans for the route of the Murrumbidgee to Googong pipeline. In relation to the first question, Mrs Dunne asked me whether I would table, by the close of business today, the initial plans for the route of the Murrumbidgee to Googong pipeline, any variations that have been considered to that initial plan and the current final proposed route. I can table, for the information of members, an image that shows the original alignment assessed and presented in the draft EIS, which was completed in August 2009. That image also shows the final alignment as assessed in the final environmental impact statement completed in December 2009. I table the following paper:
Murrumbidgee to Googong pipeline—Previous and proposed pipeline alignment.
I received this supplementary question from Mrs Dunne:
… has Actew Corporation prepared and submitted for approval the environmental impact statements as required by all relevant commonwealth, New South Wales and ACT government authorities? If no, why, and when will those statements be prepared and submitted?
The draft environmental impact statement and environmental assessment were submitted to the ACT Planning and Land Authority and the New South Wales Department of Planning in August 2009. The assessments were then placed on public exhibition during August and September 2009 for those members who missed it. After addressing issues raised during the public exhibition phase, Actew lodged the final EIS with the New South Wales Department of Planning and the ACT Planning and Land Authority on 21 December last year. The EIS incorporates a preferred project description and submissions report to meet the requirements of both New South Wales and ACT authorities.
The commonwealth Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts advised Actew in December last year that the Murrumbidgee to Googong water transfer has been deemed a controlled action under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, and that Actew was required to provide an assessment by a public environment report. Actew is currently preparing that draft report based on guidelines received from the commonwealth in December last year and it is expected that this will be submitted in March 2010. This public environment report will largely be based on the EIS already submitted to ACTPLA and New South Wales.
Mr Seselja asked me, as a supplementary:
… were those statements prepared and submitted based on the final proposed route? If no, why, and on what route or routes were the statements prepared?
I can advise that the draft EIS and EA were prepared based on an alignment that was finalised in mid-2009. In response to a large number of submissions received during
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