Page 1720 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
If Canberrans cannot get environmental improvements at a time when there is a party that was formed, apparently, to look after the environment—the Greens—at a time when they have been at the peak of their influence here in the ACT, what does that say about the Greens? What does that say about the Greens and their priorities and their emphasis that we have seen emissions increase to the extent now that the 40 per cent target will either, of course, not be met or it will, in fact, be extremely costly as we face only eight years now to get what is a much steeper target the further we get along the track and the further we get away from it?
Maybe it is because the Greens’ focus has been on all sorts of other things that do not make a real difference to the environment. During the debate about the plastic bag ban we heard from the Environment Protection Authority about what they thought about plastic bags and what a significant threat they are to our environment. Of course, the basic answer from the Environment Protection Authority was: “They are not a massive problem. They are not really much of a problem.”
But of course that has been the focus. It has been the focus on things like plastic bag bans instead of actually looking at how well we recycle, instead of looking at the efficiency of our waste collection, instead of looking at innovative ways of reducing waste to landfill. We put that in stark contrast to the Liberal government here in the ACT which, in its time in office, instituted things like no waste and made significant progress on real, practical environmental solutions.
That is what the community wants from us. They want us to be practical. They want their environment looked after. They do not want us to sit there and pursue things which make us pretend that we are supporting the environment, pretend we are improving the environment—plastic bag bans—when, in fact, the environment is going backwards. The community deserves better. They deserve a government that focuses on local issues, focuses on local solutions and, when it comes to the environment, a government that actually focuses on things that work—cleaning up our waterways, improving our waste collection, ensuring that we continue to have access to our beautiful environment. That is what Canberrans want and that is what they deserve from their government.
We can read through the summary of this report, but Mr Rattenbury summed up a lot of it. The ecological footprint, 9.2 global hectares, increased by eight per cent. Waste generation increased by 28 per cent faster than the population growth of 5.5 per cent. Greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise and there are a number of other points.
But the point I would make is this: I think that the community is very clear now, whether they look federally or locally, that a Labor-Greens alliance is bad for the economy, it is bad for their cost of living. The Labor-Greens alliance constantly places tax burden upon tax burden and cost burden upon cost burden on Canberra families. I do not think the community needs any selling on that point—that the Labor-Greens alliance is bad for their hip pocket and bad for their cost of living.
But what this state of the environment report shows is that the one thing you might expect they might have made some progress on, the environment, they have actually
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video