Page 3804 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 22 November 2006
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
But, suddenly, there was an opportunity to attack the Howard government for their perceived failure. So we have had this flurry of activity in the last two weeks. We have had more questions from the Labor Party on the environment in the last two weeks than we have had in the last five years. Now we have got this most amazing motion from Mr Gentleman:
That this Assembly notes:
(1) the importance of recognising climate change;
Profound, absolutely profound. Then it goes on:
(2) that there is policy developed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and
That means “but my government is not going to show you theirs, because we have only got a discussion paper”. It goes on:
(3) that the Canberra public is educated about climate change and what they can do on a grass roots level to contribute to a cleaner world.
That is true—and how did they get educated? Because the former Liberal government engaged with the community and educated them. Key to our greenhouse gas strategy, which was released in about 1997, was, of course, increasing community awareness of greenhouse issues. And did we do a good job? Yes, we did, because this is the city that recycles more and knows more about greenhouse and climate change than any other city in the country. It is because we led the way. As a jurisdiction the ACT not just led Australia but in many senses led the world from 1995 to 2001 because it had a government then that was committed, on behalf of this city, to changing the way greenhouse gases were emitted. We did the surveys. Though not wanting to foreshadow debate, I look forward to Dr Foskey’s motion, because many of the things that she asks for the former government did. But for the last five years this government has not done it.
It is interesting to write down a simple checklist of some of the programs that the previous government had. Policy: yes, Mr Gentleman is right; there is policy developed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions—and it was developed by the former government, the Liberal government. It was the greenhouse gas strategy that we had. The no waste by 2010 strategy that we pioneered has grown into a network around the world from Mexico City to Cardiff in Wales, where community organisations have adopted something that grew out of the ACT.
We had the firewood strategy, to reduce the burning of wood that was not suitable. We had the water tune-up program in public housing. I think we started the LNG bus replacement program. In planning we started the high-quality design and sustainability guidelines. We started the government building upgrade program, particularly with Macarthur House. It is interesting that everybody now mentions methane mining at the tip. But it was the Liberal government that started that. We put the piping in, we turned the gas on and we created electricity from it.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .