Australian Capital Territory Numbered Acts Australian Capital Territory Numbered Acts4. Section 12 of the Principal Act is amended by adding at the end the following subsections:
“(2) In the conduct of a performance audit, the Auditor-General shall, where appropriate, take into account environmental issues relative to the operations being reviewed or examined, having regard to the principles of ecologically sustainable development.
“(3) In this section, ‘ecologically sustainable development' means the effective integration of economic and environmental considerations in decision-making processes achievable through implementation of the following principles:
(a) the precautionary principle, namely, that if there is a threat of serious or irreversible environmental damage, a lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation;
(b) the inter-generational equity principle, namely, that the present generation should ensure that the health, diversity and productivity of the environment is maintained or enhanced for the benefit of future generations;
(c) conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity;
(d) improved valuation and pricing of environmental resources.”.