Page 4797 - Week 11 - Thursday, 20 October 2011

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(2) Information obtained from the ACT Fire Brigade indicated that the fire was in an outdoor storage area containing timber, logs, pallets and mulch and behaved as expected and did not pose any threat to the residents of Belconnen.

(3) An Officer from the EPA inspected the site on 22 August 2011. The ACTFB were still in attendance and no action was required.

(4) Nil. The incident was appropriately handled by the ACTFB as first responders with no adverse impacts from the incident identified which would warrant enforcement action under the Environment Protection Act.

Planning—supermarket sites
(Question No 1750)

Ms Le Couteur asked the Minister for Economic Development, upon notice, on 25 August 2011:

(1) In relation to supermarket competition policy in January this year the previous Chief Minister announced the possibility of the Government introducing a floorspace dominance test for supermarkets, what progress has there been in this area.

(2) Has the government looked at any legal issues with respect to a floorspace dominance test at existing supermarket sites.

(3) What work has the Government done to compile gross floor area (GFA) per capita for the ACT for retail generally, and for supermarkets, and is this information updated regularly.

(4) Has the government investigated (a) the growth in retail GFA and in supermarket GFA relative to the growth in the ACT’s population and if so (b) what impacts it has had on small businesses in the ACT.

(5) Throughout the formation of our supermarket competition policies, do we take into account supermarkets at the airport, and national GFA per capita averages.

(6) Has the government any current strategy to address the duopoly of Woolworths and Coles.

Mr Barr: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:

(1) The floor space dominance test is one of several tests being considered by the Government.

(2) No.

(3) The Government, through the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate (ESDD), regularly commissions commercial and industrial floor space inventories. These inventories are generally conducted every two years. Summaries of the 2009 and 2007 studies are available on ESDD’s website and a 2011 study is currently in progress.


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