Page 529 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 19 February 2020
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(c) in October 2019, the ACT Legislative Assembly passed the Litter Legislation Amendment Act 2019 to address littering and illegal dumping in our community;
(d) these new laws gave authorities greater power to deal with individuals and businesses that ruin the environment or put the community at risk through illegal dumping and littering by establishing a new escalating framework for illegal dumping offences, and making it easier to issue infringement notices where illegal dumping involves a vehicle;
(e) the ACT Government has increased resources available through the introduction of a pilot six member compliance targeting team to inspect and enforce illegal dumping laws, including the use of mobile CCTV;
(f) the compliance targeting team has been actively targeting illegal dumping and littering offences under the Litter Act 2004 since 1 July 2019 with 782 engagements, 125 infringements, and 172 warnings issued related to unauthorised use of public unleased land, illegal dumping and littering;
(g) the ACT Government is undertaking ongoing education campaigns on the consequences of littering and illegal dumping with the message ‘your actions, your cost’;
(h) a free kerbside bulky waste collection will begin to be rolled out across the ACT, beginning in Tuggeranong and Gungahlin from July 2020, providing an accessible option to dispose of bulky waste for households; and
(i) ACT residents are able to report litter and illegal dumping through the Fix My Street platform which includes a specific ‘litter and illegal dumping’ category once a place is selected;”.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong) (4.45): I rise today to speak to the issue of illegal dumping and litter across the ACT that Mr Milligan has raised. The Greens certainly recognise that the issue of roadside litter and illegal dumping is an ongoing concern and it is important to continue to explore options to tackle this issue. It is a difficult issue; however, that does not mean that we should not continue to find better ways to prevent illegal dumping.
Mr Milligan identified that the electorate of Yerrabi has had a number of reports of illegal dumping across building sites and vacant blocks and said that recent news reports demonstrated the overflow of items left at charity bins. Sadly, this issue is not unique to Yerrabi, as one can travel through the city and see that various bulky items are left on the side of the road and perhaps dumped on vacant blocks. Of course, the issue of charity bins has been discussed today.
There is a benign version of this situation, because sometimes it is with good intentions of charity that items are left on the side of the road. The idea is that one person’s trash is another’s treasure and that people will take the free goods. Those systems do exist, but the problem suggests that clear education is needed to raise awareness of the nuisance that this causes to the broader community.
In a similar vein, on any given Sunday you can pass the Salvation Army store near Fyshwick markets, for example, and the front of the store is loaded with items spilling
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