Page 2862 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 13 August 2013
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ACT has submitted that business case and we are currently awaiting a decision from the commonwealth on that business case.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Doszpot.
MR DOSZPOT: Minister, were there any matching copayment requirements on the ACT government? If yes, how much, and is this money in the ACT budget?
MR CORBELL: There is an expectation on the part of the commonwealth that there will be a matching contribution by the ACT. The ACT’s position, which we anticipate will be accepted by the commonwealth, is that the contribution is reflected in funding already allocated in either current or previous budgets for water catchment management measures.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Gentleman.
MR GENTLEMAN: Minister, what efforts has the ACT government made in relation to catchment management in previous years?
MR CORBELL: I thank Mr Gentleman for the supplementary. The government has made significant investments in improving catchment management in a range of locations around the ACT. Obviously we have seen significant investment in the Sullivans Creek catchment, with the development of a series of offline and online water treatment ponds to improve water quality along Sullivans Creek. So whether it is the ponds project currently being built in the town centre—or in fact now completed in the town centre, just off The Valley Avenue—whether it is the ponds developed along Flemington Road or whether it is the inner north stormwater project, the ponds that are now in place in Lyneham and Dickson, these are all significantly contributing to improvements in water quality and will serve as a test case for how effective these types of measures can be into the future in other catchments.
I know there is a lot of interest from other communities in the ACT in seeing similar measures—whether it is on Yarralumla Creek, for example, where there are no offline detention ponds in place currently in the Woden valley, whether it is in the Tuggeranong valley, in the creeks that flow into Lake Tuggeranong, or whether, indeed, it is in Weston Creek, with the new detention pond that has been built as part of the development in the new Molonglo valley area. These are the types of measures that the government is both implementing and giving further consideration to. The successful agreement on the part of the commonwealth to our business case will give us the capacity to further pursue those and other initiatives.
MADAM SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Mr Smyth.
MR SMYTH: Minister, is it true that contracts were not signed before the federal government went into caretaker mode? If so, why?
MR CORBELL: I am not aware what contracts Mr Smyth is referring to.
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