Page 4155 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 22 October 2019
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I strongly believe there should not be a distinction between a lit and an unlit cigarette butt. Too many times people think a cigarette is extinguished when it is not and it remains lit. Creating a distinction between lit and unlit and then a distinction in fines would potentially result in people behaving more recklessly if they believe their butt is extinguished. As a society we should not accept that risk.
I appreciate that a $500 fine is high, and I acknowledge Ms Le Couteur’s point that this is a large increase. But anyone who has done a clean-up recently, whether with the fabulous Trash Mob or with me or any number of members here or as part of a Clean Up Australia Day event will know just how prevalent cigarette butts are throughout the territory. They are a scourge. They do not need to be there, and our rangers spend an inordinate amount of time picking them up. I would much rather our rangers be addressing the many issues with trees and keeping our grass trimmed and our weeds vanquished. Unlike Ms Le Couteur, I believe a fine of $500 is the adequate deterrent to the behaviour of dropping these butts.
Aggravated littering fines will also apply to syringes. The risk of children stumbling upon sharp items such as a syringe while playing is a significant problem and is of course a nightmare for any parent. Playing safely in the outdoors should be a right of every Canberran, and this bill will bring us a step closer to achieving this.
I take Ms Le Couteur’s point, of course, about vulnerable members of the community, but it is worth stressing that this new framework will be supported by a comprehensive education and awareness campaign to alert people to their responsibilities and the consequences where they are not met. That is before the compliance action is undertaken. Our rangers also have a city rangers accountability statement which guides them in applying a commonsense approach in their interactions with the public.
Importantly, we are also providing better amenity for people to encourage them to do the right thing. It is not just a big stick approach; we are providing more bins across the city as part of the 2019-20 budget.
In addition to the aggravated offences for items that pose the greatest danger to the community and the environment, the bill creates an escalating framework for general littering offences. The existing infringement offence for littering a small item like a lolly wrapper will increase. The fine for this offence has not increased since it was introduced in 2004 and no longer is proportionate nor acts as a genuine deterrent for people doing the wrong thing.
The escalating framework will kick in when the volume of litter dumped is over one litre but under 10 litres, which will attract an on-the-spot fine of $500. Moving up the scale, between 10 and 200 litres will attract a $1,000 on-the-spot fine, and over 200 litres a $1,500 on-the-spot fine. I am pleased these offences will now reflect the community expectation that littering and illegal dumping are not acceptable in our community.
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