Page 3869 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 25 August 2010

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But I think it is probably a long bow to suggest that the occasional overnight use of Nil Desperandum by Conservation Volunteers Australia as part of their suite of conservation offerings at Tidbinbilla is to embrace camping within Tidbinbilla. That is the background. I am not sure there is much more I can offer.

MS LE COUTEUR: A supplementary, Mr Speaker?

MR SPEAKER: Yes, Ms Le Couteur.

MS LE COUTEUR: Thank you. Minister, are you aware that, while camping at Birrigai would occur in a recreation zone, camping in Nil Desperandum would occur in a core conservation zone, and do you consider that this is appropriate?

MR STANHOPE: I think the position that has been taken by parks and conservation is that at Nil Desperandum it is consistent with the 1995 conservation plan for Nil Desperandum. It actually specifically states that the underlying theme of conservation at Nil Desperandum is to maintain the building as a residence. Certainly, the building was severely affected by the bushfires. It has been restored to some extent. Conservation Volunteers Australia, through a Naturewise program that is part of a formal arrangement between Conservation Volunteers Australia and the ACT government, I think you are aware, now essentially provides all ranger type services within most particularly the new Tidbinbilla sanctuary. And it has been the most wonderfully successful relationship imaginable between the ACT government and Conservation Volunteers Australia—the relationship, the partnership, at Tidbinbilla. I only wish that we could actually create similarly successful partnerships again with Conservation Volunteers, as well as with other groups, in relation to other parks in the ACT.

The government is enormously supportive of the relationship and its continuation and its growth. Part of that growth, pursued by Conservation Volunteers Australia, was the development of a Naturewise program at Tidbinbilla, part of which involves the occasional possible use by conservation volunteers of Nil Desperandum for overnight stays. My advice, Ms Le Couteur, to respond to your question, is that the conservation management plan believes that it is appropriate for Nil Desperandum to be used for occasional overnight use. If the conservation management plan says it, until it decides otherwise, I am not quite sure—and I think it is a long bow, as I said, to say that overnight use of Nil Desperandum equates to camping. (Time expired.)

Taxation—review

MR SMYTH: My question is to the Treasurer. Treasurer, on 12 August 2010, you announced that a review was to be conducted of the ACT’s taxation system and that this review would be headed by a former ACT Treasurer, Mr Quinlan. Treasurer, on 14 April 2005, a report in the Canberra Times quoted Mr Quinlan as making the following statement:

Abolishing stamp duty on commercial conveyances would not necessarily stimulate the ACT economy or generate more jobs here.


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