Debates Day 2 - Wednesday 23 November 1994
Parliamentary Record 6
Debates for 7th Assembly 1994 - 1997; ParliamentNT; Parliamentary Record; 7th Assembly 1994 - 1997
1994-11-23
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
English
Debates
Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
Darwin
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Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
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https://hdl.handle.net/10070/281606
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/414128
DEBATES - Wednesday 23 November 1994 states the minimum environmental protection guidelines that all states and territories and the federal government will apply across all Australia. M r Coulter: It has to be a two-thirds majority. M r BAILEY: Yes M r Coulter: South Australia cannot tell Tasmania what to do. Mr BAILEY: I agree with that. However, if they agree on an overall standard and more than two-thirds vote in favour o f it, we cannot have an area that says that it is inconvenient for it at the moment and that it will go against it. In other words, it is recognised that we need minimum standards for environmental protection, whether in relation to noise, water pollution or whatever. Members on this side consider that to be very appropriate. In the same way, there are international agreements that attempt to create standards across the world for pollution, whether in terms o f toxic waste, acid rain ... Mr Hatton: It is a shame, however, that very rich and very poor countries totally ignore them, isnt it? M r BAILEY: It is unfortunate that people often ignore them. If we look at many o f the incidents that have occurred in various countries, we will find that pollution is not localised. However, in eastern Europe during the time o f the Communist bloc, factories in some o f those countries were outrageous in terms o f the amount o f pollution that they created, including the production o f acid rain across half of Europe. I suspect that many o f them are still having difficulty catching up with appropriate environmental standards. When Chernobyl blew its top, there was contamination across a significant area o f Europe. Those are the types o f things that happen. I guess that, at the time, those countries were saying that it was more important to improve their industrial production and to attempt to sell a few things than it was to protect the environment. The same types o f arguments have ... Mr Hatton: Totalitarian states do not take any notice o f the peoples needs. Mr BAILEY: Finally, we have before us a national standard and, as I said, we support it. It is interesting to note, and I hope that the minister will be able to explain it, that there is a reservation by the Northern Territory in Annexure A: The Northern Territory in signing the agreement notifies that it does not consider itself a party to the Intergovernmental Agreement on Road Transport entered into by the Commonwealth, states and the Australian Capital Territory, and accordingly is not bound by subclause 5(vi) and clause 7 of schedule 4 to this agreement. The Northern Territory further notifies its intention to enter into discussions with the other parties with the objective of securing the direct participation of 1832