Page 4152 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 22 October 2019
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The amendments which I have tabled—but I will not move all of them—were intended to ensure the development of a hoarding code of practice that is informed by people with suitable qualifications and experience.
The other part of my amendments was going to ensure that if an abatement order was carried out there was support for the person whose hoarding was being abated. Clearly the implementation of an abatement order is potentially very stressful for the subjects of such an order. I have an amendment that would ensure that there is a support person available when an abatement order is being implemented. My amendment gave examples of support people such as a social worker, a person of expertise in dealing with mental health conditions or a carer. In practice, I imagine—and I would have hoped—that it is likely that the support worker would have already had a relationship with the person on whom the order had been served and, thus, that person would serve to alleviate some of the considerable distress that the person would be feeling.
I am in favour of the majority of this bill. I am very disappointed at the approach that the government has taken in terms of dealing with these issues purely as, I guess, civic cleanliness and land management issues and not recognising the reality that littering and hoarding are actually always done by human beings who have very complex issues and that fining them is often not a particularly appropriate or useful way of changing their behaviour. I hope that the government—despite the fact this will be passed—will not actually use the powers given to it under this legislation.
MR PETTERSSON (Yerrabi) (4.04): When we move around our local community we expect people to be able to enjoy our public spaces. When we walk through our streets, we expect our neighbours to keep their blocks free of rubbish. It is not rocket science; it is pretty straightforward. For most Canberrans this is their lived experience of our city—it is beautiful and well kept. But, unfortunately, this sensible expectation is sometimes not met. Around our paths, playgrounds and local streets it is concerning that we can see piles of household rubbish, commercial waste and litter which can all pose a hazard to users of these areas and diminish the beauty of our city. It is for this reason the bill seeks to improve both the cleanliness of our environment as well as public safety.
This bill recognises, importantly, that litter and illegal dumping are a threat to the wellbeing of all Canberrans and responds to this hazard by seeking to implement new and increased penalties for such offences. These measures will present greater incentives for people to take responsibility for their own actions when determining how they will dispose of unwanted items.
Canberra is a beautiful place to live and we would like to keep it that way. Most members of this place would be aware of some of the hoarding cases in Kaleen; they have been raised before in this chamber and most of you have probably seen media stories regarding them. I have been to the sites; I have spoken to the community. The community have raised their concerns with me and other members of this place that hoarding, illegal dumping and the risks posed by them to those living in the local area are bad for our suburbs.
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