Page 415 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 21 February 1990
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MR KAINE: It is pretty easy to see that there is a Federal election in the air. I believe the deliberate aspersion against Senator Margaret Reid is reprehensible and should not be occurring in this Assembly. No doubt, she has a particular view, but I do not believe for a moment that she is the only person opposed to what is currently proposed in the Parliamentary Triangle. I do not know that there is a lot of public support for what is proposed there.
A limited number of people who would like to see the facility built there have a vested interest, but if the entire population were asked whether it would like a child-care facility in the Parliamentary Triangle or at the bottom end of Tuggeranong which Mr Whalan claims so strongly to represent, we would know the answer. So I think we should examine the political import of Ms Follett's question rather than the question itself. In direct response to the question as to what approach I have made to Senator Margaret Reid, the answer is none.
Pesticides
MR PROWSE: My question is directed to the Minister for Finance and Urban Services. In relation to the use of pesticides in and around homes in the ACT to control various insects and rodents, my concern is that the public at large is not fully informed as to the dangers, both immediate and residual, from the application of chemicals used for this purpose. What action is the Government taking to ensure that excessive amounts of pesticides are not used in residential areas?
MR DUBY: Thank you, Mr Prowse, for the question. The Government is aware of the dangers involved with organochlorin pesticides and the excessive use thereof, and is also aware of a Western Australian study which indicated that pest control operators were using excessive amounts of organochlorin pesticides around homes. They are used against termites in buildings. Although this is not covered by regulation in the ACT, where treatment is used it must be in accordance with the Australian standards. Organochlorins are the only approved chemicals under those standards.
Under the Pesticides Act pest control operators can purchase organochlorin pesticides only if they have obtained an approval for a restricted permit from the Registrar of Pesticides. Approvals will be granted only to operators who possess or are eligible to possess a New South Wales pest control operators licence. The issuing of those licences is done on a stringent and very professional basis. Persons who are in a position to be spraying these chemicals are monitored, and I can give an undertaking that excessive use of these particular chemicals is not occurring in the ACT.
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