Page 533 - Week 04 - Thursday, 29 June 1989
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That being the case, I conclude, Mr Speaker, by saying thank you to our Clerk and his staff for the new standing and temporary orders, and I offer this challenge: I would like to hear a hundred ways to reuse old copies of standing orders.
MR WOOD (11.18): Mr Speaker, in supporting this proposal, I hope to avoid the type of Freudian slip that the Minister made when she introduced it. Before I proceed I want to make brief reference to the work of committees. The committees are going to have a great impact on this Assembly and on the community. First of all, as we have found already, they are very useful in gathering information for members and for educating members who sit on them. Secondly, they are filling a most valuable role in extending the community participation in the affairs of the Assembly, perhaps ultimately of the Government, because they provide a direct input into our affairs.
In the longer term, the work of committees will be based entirely on the quality of their reports and proceedings. Given my experience to date, I believe that all members are very serious, they are prepared to put aside preconceived ideas and attitudes, to consider all matters objectively and to put a great deal of energy into their task. I believe on that basis the committees which report to the Assembly will have a profound impact.
On this matter I believe it is particularly appropriate at this time to question and examine the management of all solid waste in the ACT. In response to recent developments and new technologies for collection, handling, disposal and recycling, and the increased community awareness of the need to conserve our resources, we need to do many things in this area.
We need, first and foremost, to minimise the amount of waste that we generate. I will not relate that to words in this Assembly, mind you. We need to change our attitudes towards landfill disposal sites, the garbage, and we must reduce the amount of material requiring landfill. We need to make the collection and transportation of waste more efficient through use of appropriate collection systems. And we need, through this, to examine the use of big bins.
We need to look at efficient hard rubbish collections for such items as old furniture. The need for more transfer stations and appropriately-sized modern collection vehicles should also be examined. We need to provide dedicated solid recycling containers to each household to ensure the opportunity for convenient source separation factors, because that is where it has to happen.
We need to identify and secure sites for future landfills for the community, well in advance of need. We must continue to improve our management of landfills so that our surface water and ground water resources are protected and litter is controlled so that they do not produce any unacceptable offside effects on the local environs.
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