Page 1133 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 30 March 2011
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(i) possible improvements for managing water quality and the appropriateness of the current protocols for lake closures;
(ii) identifying the causes of lower water quality, including possible resource implications of addressing them;
(iii) jurisdictional implications for water quality management of the lake; and
(iv) the implication of these findings for the ACT’s other major recreational waterways, such as Lake Ginninderra and Lake Tuggeranong; and”.
I have said all I need to say in relation to this particular issue. I think the case is made. This is a good, sensible motion and the government, with these amendments, is happy to support it.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (6.15): The Greens will be supporting these amendments. Having had a discussion with Mr Corbell’s office particularly on these matters and having looked at the amendments, we believe that they are very much in the spirit of what we intended. In a number of places they clarify and improve the proposal we put forward. On that basis we will support them.
I particularly note—Mr Stanhope picked up on this—the potential opportunities for our other waterways such as Lake Ginninderra and Lake Tuggeranong, which do suffer contamination problems at various times. This investigation may produce opportunities to understand those waterways better. That is part of the government’s amendments and I welcome them.
Amendments agreed to.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Mr Hargreaves): The question now is that the motion, as amended, be agreed to. I call Mr Rattenbury, who will close the debate.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (6.16): Just briefly in closing, I would like to thank members for their support for the motion today and for the discussion we have had. We have all touched on the fact that this is a very important issue for Canberrans. Already today, I have had a couple of emails based on the media reports of people coming along and starting to tell their stories of their concerns about the lake. There are many user groups out there. I have spoken to a number of them. They involve literally thousands of Canberrans and the activities they like to participate in.
Mrs Dunne’s earlier comment that she would not even let her dog swim in the lake sums up the scale of the challenge that we face. I think we have got a lot of work to do and we need to be very focused on addressing this so we can tackle this very major challenge.
The lake is an important asset for Canberra. I note that there is also a Facebook group that exists out there. Perhaps members could look it up on their laptops in the chamber
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