Page 2789 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 23 June 2009
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Mrs Dunne: I got mine.
MS LE COUTEUR: Congratulations.
Mrs Dunne: It was a non-answer.
MS LE COUTEUR: Congratulations, Mrs Dunne; you are luckier than I. I also asked a question about the number of trees on the tree protection register. As I already know that last year no trees were put on the register, I really thought that it would not take a lot of time to count the remaining trees, but I live in hope.
The proposed urban forest renewal program is a very significant program. Canberra is regarded as the bush capital. One of the early things that was done in Canberra was to establish a nursery, an early arboretum, in Weston Park, which I used to walk through as a child. Trees are an integral part of Canberra’s development, especially the older areas of Canberra. We are very pleased that the government is looking at the urban tree renewal program, but we are very concerned that this program be done well.
The program needs to work in the context of the whole environment and the amenity. The type and location of trees influence the ability of homes to receive solar exposure, and trees affect people’s lives. Some trees have significance to some communities, to some people. Even trees which the government may call pest trees can be important to people. Rebalancing and maintaining the urban forest is a critical undertaking. We want to make sure that it is done well, not just looking at the cheapest option and the government’s liabilities.
The next item I would like to look at is waste. In the time since the budget was announced, I am very pleased to say that the government has responded to the Greens’ request and released the independent report on the NOWaste strategy which was completed in 2008. This report is quite revealing when it comes to the budget funding for waste-related activities. The report warns that, faced with growing total quantities of waste, it is an unacceptable expectation that the ACT government considered reducing, or even containing at current levels, the current budget. The review also pointed out that the budget data reviewed had considerably under-forecast the demand for forward capital expenditure in waste management despite the warning in the report.
The funding in this year’s budget has not broken this cycle. With the ACT’s recycling rates static and the waste to landfill proportion increasing, we desperately need to do something to reinvigorate the NOWaste strategy. The Greens have argued for new initiatives such as an organic waste recycling trial, street-level recycling and commercial waste recycling.
We are very pleased that in this budget the government has dedicated some funding to a commercial waste initiative. We think that commercial waste is one of the true low-hanging fruit as far as waste is concerned. But we are a bit concerned, because the budget paper describes it as a future waste strategy that will investigate why businesses are not recycling more and clarify the obstacles to increasing the recovery of the commercial waste stream.
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