ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope endorsed yesterday an inquiry by the Environment and Sustainability Commissioner into the Government's tree removal activities, while claiming the territory was facing a ''tsunami in decline'' of its estate of more than 600,000 trees.
The usual annual tree replacement program will continue but Mr Stanhope put on hold the yet-to-start urban forest renewal program and disbanded its panel of experts until the commissioner's inquiry is concluded, which he anticipated would be mid-next year.
In the meantime, he guaranteed the Government would consult on a tree-by-tree basis and Territory and Municipal Services officers would provide a written certification that each tree slated for removal was dead or dangerous.
A sometimes testy Mr Stanhope also berated the Greens in the Assembly for approaching the commissioner, Maxine Cooper, asking her for an investigation of tree management without first consulting him or Territory and Municipal Services.
He said it might even have constituted a breach of the Greens-Labor parliamentary agreement for the parties to keep each other in the loop.
The first he heard about a possible inquiry was reading it in The Canberra Times yesterday.
Mr Stanhope also launched into the Greens for insinuating Territory and Municipal Services rangers were taking some ''particular glee'' in deliberately bringing down healthy trees, when he said they only removed dead, dying or dangerous trees.
He suggested the Greens were creating a perception the rangers had ''chainsaw fever'' and cutting trees down ''for the fun of it''.
Greens environment spokesman Shane Rattenbury couldn't understand the aggravation.
The Greens were only interested in ensuring tree removals were done properly from the start.
A Greens spokesman also denied last night the party was ever critical of individual department officers, but rather it was questioning the processes put in place by the Government that were obviously causing so much angst in the community.
The urban forest renewal program, yet to formally begin, is being promoted as the Government is taking a strategic approach to future tree management in the wake of a report from the Australian National University that as many as two-thirds of the 630,000 trees on public land will have to be replaced over the next 25 years.
The Government's usual tree replacement program is a separate annual exercise that has been in place since 1992, this year seeing the removal of 282 trees.
Mr Stanhope said the urban forest renewal program was planned to include extensive public consultation but would be put on hold until Dr Cooper's inquiry was completed.
In a separate move, Territory and Municipal Services temporarily suspended the removal of trees last week in Griffith, Narrabundah and Manuka under its annual tree replacement program because of an outcry from residents.
Mr Stanhope said yesterday in the Assembly he wanted the commissioner's inquiry to be scientifically rigorous to help resolve the community's concerns.
''It concerns me that I have staff now too nervous to remove trees that they've identified as dead or dangerous and have imposed a suspension of activity. I'm worried about the duty of care. I need this to be resolved,'' he said.
Greens territory and municipal services spokeswoman Caroline Le Couteur approached Dr Cooper for an inquiry and tried to move a motion in the Assembly yesterday asking the Government to guarantee better consultation and more effort to preserve trees.
The motion was instead successfully amended by Mr Stanhope to allow the commissioner's inquiry. He said the inquiry would cover the same issues Ms Le Couteur's motion was seeking.
Ms Le Couteur said in light of a budget-blowout by Territory and Municipal Services, the Greens ''won't accept a situation where tree management suffers because the Government is blinded by its short-term budget and a desire to promote the least-cost approach''.
The Assembly also supported calls by Liberal territory and municipal services spokesman Alistair Coe that all trees should be managed to ''ensure maximum life-span for the benefit of the community''.
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