Page 531 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 19 February 2020
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consumption does need to change. We need to be less of a throwaway society and place greater value on the goods that we have.
Last year, as minister for consumer affairs, I was proud to secure commonwealth, state and territory support to progress work on a right to repair. This gives consumers the ability to have faulty goods repaired at a competitive price by a manufacturer, a third party or, in some instances, self-repair, using available replacement parts and having access to information. Consumers are being increasingly locked out of repairing their products because manufacturers do not allow third parties to repair them or products are built to become obsolete when they are damaged.
Globally there is a groundswell of consumers who want the right to be able to repair their goods through third-party providers. A right to repair is also good for sustainability and it stops products and resources being wasted. This, of course, is just a piece of the puzzle to solve the large number of bulky and other items that end up as waste. It gives agency to individuals to explore options to repair their items before disposal.
Of course, we understand that items necessary to everyday living do break and some will become irreparable. But we believe there are a number of other mechanisms that need to exist in order to divert items from simply going to waste. That speaks to some of the bigger picture issues, but we do understand that the community are frustrated when they see dumping and littering. It is unsightly and it involves not insignificant clean-up costs, whether for the government or the charities. That, particularly for the charities, detracts from what they really should be doing, which is helping the less fortunate members of our community.
We are pleased to have had the opportunity to discuss this matter today. I will be supporting Mr Steel’s amendment. Somewhat unusually, his amendment actually retains the whole core section, which is not how it usually goes on a Wednesday. I think that is a positive sign that there is a sense across the chamber of frustration about this issue. If only we could find a way to get those in our community who undertake this sort of illegal dumping to understand the consequences of what they do. It will be good to keep exploring the sorts of areas that Mr Milligan has suggested in his motion.
MR GUPTA (Yerrabi) (4.53): I rise to speak to the motion regarding littering and illegal dumping in the ACT. Waste and cleanliness are important issues to Canberrans and for the ACT government. I would also like to thank Mr Milligan for bringing this motion to the Assembly. Part of living in the bush capital is that we have a beautiful natural environment. Canberra is surrounded by hills and has beautiful local parks, wetlands and open green spaces. We should all be able to enjoy our natural environment and our public places should be clean, tidy and beautiful.
The ACT is expanding. More people want to live in our fantastic city and our city is becoming more compact. As our population increases, so does our waste. The ACT government acknowledges that illegal dumping and littering occur in the ACT and we are acting. The ACT government is introducing robust laws to address problems dealing with the issues of littering and illegal dumping. The new laws improve the
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