Page 3886 - Week 09 - Thursday, 25 August 2011
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continue to be a premier celebration of multiculturalism in the ACT. Later this year I will come back and formally announce the formal program for the 2012 festival.
Lake Burley Griffin—water quality
Debate resumed.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, Minister for Territory and Municipal Services and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (12.08): I move:
That the resolution of the Assembly of 30 March 2011, which required the Commissioner for the Environment and Sustainability to investigate the state of water courses and catchments for Lake Burley Griffin and report to the Assembly by 30 September 2011, be amended by omitting the words “30 September 2011” and substituting the words “30 March 2012”.
Mr Speaker, on 30 March this year, as you know, we moved a motion for an investigation by the Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment into the state of the water courses and catchments for Lake Burley Griffin. Following significant debate in this chamber and amendments from all sides, the Assembly agreed to the proposal. The Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment has embarked on this investigation.
Members will recall that the terms of reference for the investigation are wide ranging, including the consideration of possible improvements for managing the water quality and the appropriateness of the current protocols for lake closures; identifying the causes of lower water quality, including possible resource implications of addressing them; jurisdictional implications for water quality management of the lake; and the implications of those findings for the ACT’s other major recreational waterways, such as Lake Ginninderra and Lake Tuggeranong.
The commissioner has been actively pursuing this investigation and has called for public submissions to be provided by the end of July. The commissioner has written to me asking for an extension of time to provide her report. The Assembly had asked for the investigation to be completed and tabled in the Assembly by the end of September. However, due to the level of public interest and the commissioner’s desire to undertake further engagement with the public, she has proposed a more realistic date of the March 2012 sittings of the Assembly.
Mr Speaker, I agree with the commissioner’s recommendation that there should be more time allocated to allow for further community engagement and that this short extension of time is appropriate. Given these circumstances, I am moving the amendment to the resolution today to reflect the commissioner’s proposal that the commissioner’s report be made available to the Assembly by 30 March 2012.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
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