Page 3169 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 24 August 2005
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products. I am sure similar products can be purchased from the Oxfam shop and I believe Coles is getting in on the act—I am not so sure about Woolworths but, just to be even-handed, I will mention their name. You can go to Cafe Essen and buy a fair trade cup of coffee and, believe it or not, you can even go to that chain store, Starbucks, and know that, while you may be destroying other smaller locally owned coffee shops, you are drinking fair trade coffee.
In terms of it being a token gesture, I ask: where do we start to make a difference? We can all talk, and no doubt we all do, we can complain about the state of the world and we can all get very frustrated, especially if we are not drinking fair trade coffee at the time, but I would hope that individual members might make decisions when they purchase tea and coffee for their offices or their homes that they might just now have an awareness and look for that sign on the packet.
A couple of weeks ago we had a whole cavalcade of farmers on tractors in the ACT. They were from the fair dinkum food campaign, a related campaign but a little different. It is about getting labelling so that people can tell when they are buying an Australian product. At the moment it can say “Made in Australia” but it might only be the jar that is made in Australia and the jam might be made anywhere. As purchasers, we do have a lot of power. It meant a lot to those farmers to get correct labelling, and it is another way that one can make a difference in many of our purchases. But, in our case, I think fair trade for the Assembly is a good way to go. I still think we should let people know that we are doing it, even if it is subtly and only people with very good eyesight can read the signs. I commend my amendment to you.
Dr Foskey’s amendment to Mr Quinlan’s proposed amendment negatived.
Mr Quinlan’s amendment agreed to.
Motion, as amended, agreed to.
Kippax library
MS PORTER (Ginninderra) (4.11): I move:
That this Assembly:
(1) welcomes the opening of a permanent library facility at Kippax;
(2) applauds the process of consultation undertaken during the preparation and planning stages of the new Kippax Library; and
(3) encourages residents of the Belconnen region to make use of this new multi-purpose facility.
I am delighted to move this motion today as it corresponds with the realisation of a service which has been talked about in this place for a long time now and has been delivered by the Stanhope government. I speak, of course, of the provision of a permanent facility to house the collections and resources which make up the Kippax library located in the heart of west Belconnen.
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