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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 9 Hansard (26 August) . . Page.. 3200 ..

MR SMYTH: That's a good idea. Mr Wood says, "That's a good idea."But there's nobody who can do that for the ovals. The government is the guardian of the ovals on behalf of the community. So I just think it is important that we do understand how important these ovals are to us. I'm not saying that the government doesn't, but I think there are occasions when you can differentiate about which parts of the society that we live in, the community that we live in, do what in regard to various issues. I think this is one of those times in which you could discriminate slightly in favour of the ovals so that we minimise those impacts.

On a separate matter: I've just spoken to the minister for tourism about this, and he's got a few words to say. I got the call, it seems, because he was talking to the minister for ovals. There is this issue with Floriade, for instance: sprinklers will not be allowed to be used after 1 October. Floriade is heavily dependent throughout the duration of Floriade, the month of Floriade, on keeping those flowers fresh and those beds alive so that we have a tourist attraction. I think there's an opportunity there to also differentiate, to discriminate in favour of those garden beds, firstly, because of the pleasure they bring to everyone who comes as a tourist; and, secondly, because of the pleasure they actually bring to we Canberrans that go and look at Floriade.

I think it would be a sad state of affairs if half way through Floriade we actually took the step to be consistent with what everybody else in the community was doing and attempting to do and put Floriade at risk. Again, there isn't a bath or a washtub or a sink that you can empty and pour onto the garden beds of Floriade.

I hope the minister will enlighten us as to what they intend to do with Floriade. Again I think that's a special circumstance and I think the people of Canberra would understand that you need to do something special to maintain things like Floriade, which we all value, which we all enjoy. So they're just a few points.

I think it is appropriate to have some sort of positive discrimination in this case in favour of things that Canberrans value. I think if you talk to the community, one of the things they'd say back to all of us is: "Look after the ovals, because everybody can still enjoy them throughout the season where our home gardens might not be as comfortable or as enjoyable as they used to be; and look after Floriade."It would be okay. I suspect most Canberrans would be quite comfortable with Floriade being sprinkled and watered to keep it alive and fresh, because it's something that we all do value.

I look to the government and say, "We on this side of the house would be quite in favour of working with the government, coming up with other strategies."Perhaps we need to encourage Canberrans to do even more to reduce their own impact.

I was thinking this morning, "How many of us still brush our teeth with the tap running?"I suspect a lot of people still don't even think about the litres and litres. I remember certainly from my days in the Army where you had two tin mugs, Mr Deputy Speaker. One was for making your brew, and the other one was for washing and shaving with. Every morning you'd boil up two mugs, one for a brew and one for washing and shaving.

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