Page 2172 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 2 August 2022
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
I also want pre-emptively to commend my colleague Ms Clay, who has a motion on the notice paper which I have already had the chance to read, which speaks about mowing. I understand that is more of a conversation to be had with the Minister for Transport and City Services. It would be remiss of me not to note that mowing, not just by private households but by government, is contributing to the problem we are seeing in my electorate at Lake Tuggeranong. I recall seeing a particular remarkable image on Ms Lawder’s Facebook page—if I am not mistaken, Ms Lawder—of a council mower mowing with the catcher pointing directly into the lake, which was one of those stark images. So it is timely that my colleague Ms Clay is bringing a motion to the Assembly to talk about how the government, on the whole, maintains its own assets and how complementary works are making sure that we can maintain the water quality of the lake.
Of course, it is difficult, Mr Assistant Speaker; I have had it put to me by a few constituents that, while people want to do the very best they can all the time, sometimes it can feel like a bit of a hard pill to swallow when you are educated and informed about how you can best manage your own behaviour to keep lakes and waterways clean and tidy, when, conversely, you see with your own two eyes, in some instances, where perhaps the government is not implementing best practice itself. I have had it put by my constituents that sometimes that can be a bit challenging to see.
I also want to commend the initiative in the budget by the minister for water to set up an Office for Water. It might not appear to many outside this chamber as one of the big, sexy, exciting announcements as part of the budget, but it certainly interested me. One of the things I have observed over a period of time, not just as a member of this place but as a resident of Tuggeranong who has been actively engaged in the conversation about our water quality, is the risk that sometimes the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. Even though the intentions of the left hand are as good as those of the right hand, streamlining and creating synergies amongst those processes, making sure different parts of different directorates who are working on not dissimilar projects are collaborating and working together, will achieve better outcomes for ratepayers. We will be able essentially to save money and do more work by bringing those things together.
It is something that the minister for water himself is certainly too humble to say in the same way that I will, but I think it is a good example of one of those tangible and effective, but maybe not front-page, ways that the Greens influence government and exercise their responsibilities in the executive.
This is one of the most exciting and interesting water quality announcements from the government for some time. While establishing a new office might not catch most people’s attention, I am excited about the possibility of bringing people together and getting stuff happening quicker, simply because people are working in the same office, and sometimes even physically in the same office in the same location. That is particularly exciting as well.
I will wait with bated breath to see how the government responds to some of the commissioner’s recommendations. I trust that other members for Brindabella, in particular Ms Lawder, and our beloved Tuggeranong Community Council will be
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video