Page 1457 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 26 September 1989
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adequate facilities for reducing the large amount of water that we are clearly putting into our gardens. I would be pleased to show the Minister my own garden, where I have installed those sorts of facilities because I am fully aware of the need to conserve water in this nation of ours.
I refer also to another area which I suggest the Minister should discuss with the Deputy Chief Minister when looking at the various design and standing rules. In future I suggest we should require new buildings in the ACT to install double-flush toilets, so that when one goes to the toilet one has the option of a small flush or a large flush. You have got the picture? All right. They are the sorts of things that I would suggest would reduce water use quite considerably. A large number of studies have been done in this area in much the same way as studies have been done to encourage people to use items like "shower powers" to save the amount of water they are using - not only saving water but saving electricity.
One of the major things that we will find if we look at our electricity bill is that almost one-third of the cost of our electricity bill relates to the hot water used by the consumer. I would suggest that we should continue this program to encourage people to seek means by which they can not only reduce the water that they are using but also reduce the cost of the power associated with heating the water.
There is one other suggestion that has already been mentioned in one other city in relation to saving water. If we are not able to have double-flush toilets because we have already had a system installed and we cannot afford to change, one of the quickest and easiest ways is to bung a brick in the cistern. That will reduce quite considerably the amount of water that is being used. Think about it, Minister. If you put a brick in the cistern, that is one way of saving large amounts of water.
In my comments on this particular glossy corporate plan I thought I would just raise a number of issues, although they may seem hilarious to some in this house. I would suggest that the conservation of energy and of water is a very important factor, and it is something that we should take very seriously. I raise these matters in a light-hearted manner just to remind people how important it is in this country to save this very important asset that we have so little of.
MRS GRASSBY (Minister for Housing and Urban Services), in reply (8.53): I am overwhelmed. Let me first of all answer Mr Stefaniak. I understand the fact that our debts have gone down, but we do now have a much better understanding by talking to customers who cannot pay their bills. Therefore, we have gone a long way. We ask people to come in and discuss matters with us and find ways of proceeding, rather than having their electricity cut off. We do not want to end up with bad debts, and this is how we
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