Page 904 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 25 July 1989
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for the procurement of pesticides that are not being used in other States. It is heartening to see that the Minister has put forward this Bill in order to achieve that goal. It is also heartening to see that the whole approach of the Bill is to ensure that it is cost-effective or self-funding. The Rally is particularly pleased to see that it is being done this way and that the proposed registrar is actually a public servant who already has other duties. He will therefore be able to carry out these duties in addition to his own at no extra cost to the community. At the same time, there will be a particularly big saving to the community in terms of the environment and the sustainability of our ecosystems. Within the limitations of that amendment which we will propose at that stage of the Bill, the Rally is quite prepared to support the Pesticides Bill 1989.
MR WOOD (9.11): Mr Speaker, I join my colleagues in the Assembly in rising to support this Bill. The Australian Capital Territory has, for too long, been the only State or territory without such legislation. Quite properly, the provisions of this Bill are strong. They will ensure that, in future, the ACT will not be in a position, through misuse of the provisions, to see a repeat of a not too recent scare regarding pesticide residues in meat when the USA stopped importing our meat.
The point has been made that the ACT has been a loophole through which it has been possible for people in other States to buy pesticides they could not legally acquire in their own area. So this legislation is very valuable now that that loophole is being closed. It is not just primary producers or other people who can misuse chemicals. I guess, as a gardener, I have misused chemicals in years gone by. I have been a little more careful, I think, in recent years. But whether you are on the land or in your back garden there is sometimes a willingness to use materials that perhaps we do not know enough about. I am not trained in chemistry. I can read information on labels and it does not mean a thing to me. So dangerous chemicals ought to be kept well out of my hands.
I think there is also a tendency for people, from time to time, to overuse even safe chemicals and to put in a little bit for good measure. I may have been tempted in the past to do that with the paspalum on my front lawn, but I am sure it has not done an extra thing; it is still there. It is true that we have to be extraordinarily careful with the chemicals we use, even those deemed to be safe.
To put this effective legislation into place, the Bill allows for a registrar who, presumably, if not qualified precisely in that area, will be capable of taking very good advice. He or she will be appointed to carry out the provisions of the Act. There will also be inspectors who will be well-placed and well-qualified to enforce the Act.
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