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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 13 Hansard (26 November) . . Page.. 4772 ..

MRS DUNNE (continuing):

bag, boxes or degradable bags;

(6) calls on the Government to work with business and trial (a) a plastic bag levy in Canberra and (b) the use of biodegradable or degradable plastic bags using a similar approach to the ReBaG trial in 1999.".

I apologise to members for the cumbersome nature of this. I took some time to consult with the clerk as to the best and most expedient way of doing this. Unfortunately, we do end up with a couple of very cumbersome amendments, but perhaps if the Chief Minister had come to me in a consultative way we could have come up with an easier solution.

MRS BURKE (10.41): I commend Mrs Dunne for her initiative in bringing on this motion. I too feel it is a little churlish of the Chief Minister and this government to take this ridiculous stance on private members day of not wanting any opposition at all to anything they do. I thought that was the democratic process, but to play silly games is just time wasting. Mrs Dunne's motion calls on the government, which I know has a propensity to do the least possible work, to actually do something. The motion clearly has some excellent ideas for the government to embrace, and I think Mr Cornwell alluded to them, as did Mrs Dunne. They were some practical things. This is the doing side of the protocol that was signed.

The protocol is all well and good, but we need action. Action speaks louder than words. This government is very good at words and rhetoric, but when it comes to actually acting we have the minimalist approach, it would seem-anything just to get by, put a veneer on things, that will do. Of course, as I have said, I understand that Mr Stanhope's agreeing with the Commonwealth protocol does little more than simply give lip service to the notion; it is not action on the motion. However, it is pleasing to see that this government has agreed to work with the Commonwealth in signing the protocol. It makes a pleasant change, I guess, from the constant carping and knocking that the government seems to delight in doing with the federal government.

I would make the point that this government is not really committed to reducing plastic bag litter. The funding to the Clean Up Australia campaign was halved, if I remember correctly, so that sort of flies in the face of that a little bit, which is disappointing, given that the government has signed this agreement. Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order.

MR SPEAKER: Yes, a point of order. There is too much discussion going on.

MRS BURKE: Thank you.

MR SPEAKER: Including mine, which is very important!

MRS BURKE: The targets and aims are very admirable, but they remain no more than words on paper-unachievable, as Mrs Dunne has said, if there are no actions alongside the words. The Chief Minister has said much is happening, but much is happening, it seems, from a distance.

Mr Stanhope, for your information, people in this town are very interested in roads, rates and rubbish. It is the little things that count. Anyone who has driven past the Mugga Lane tip lately will see that it is extremely concerning still to see so many bags flying up against the paddock fences, extremely dangerous to the stock that are grazing in those

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