Page 461 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 28 June 1989
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think that is an innovation that the committee might well want to look at.
I also believe that the ACT Housing Trust, which again is an area of Mrs Grassby's rather than my own, has recognised the importance of cheap and affordable heating in trust housing and it has been attempting to make the maximum use of solar heating, principally by the use of suitable design and siting arrangements for new trust houses. So there is that little bit of a lead being given in the public sector in housing and I hope that the work of this committee on this issue will engender some more widespread support.
As another speaker has pointed out, the siting of houses in new suburbs does not give you a great deal of hope, but if there is that lead given in the community and a much broader acceptance of the value of other sources of energy, including passive solar energy, then I think the ACT will be a very much better place in the future.
MR WOOD (11.13): In the end we are very dependent on the citizens of Canberra. Their role is very significant here because they are the ones who need to accept the policies that we put into place. I think they are ready to accept hard policies. I have been very encouraged recently to see the electronic media, in fact all media, paying very careful attention to the considerable threats to the world's environment. This has been popular TV viewing, and I think that is a remarkable achievement. It is certainly true that it has been caused by the very grave threats to our environment, to the ozone layer, the greenhouse effect, considerable pollution in the oceans, and a great number of other dreadful occurrences.
I might mention in passing the role of the education system in this. I am sure my colleague Mr Moore will agree that for many years teachers in our schools have been giving considerable importance to teaching about environment and the effects of the world's population and their actions on the environment. I would not underestimate the role that the schools have played in heightening the awareness of the community generally.
I believe this new Assembly can provide the leadership that the community will now accept in establishing strong measures. We have a particular benefit in this Assembly that we cover both the established State and local authority components of government. Therefore, we can see to it that there is no conflict in policies between those two traditional levels of government and that what we do is generally harmonious.
We, as the Chief Minister said, do not have control of the major means of generation of power coming into this Territory. But it does come down very much to what the individual will accept. The notion of individual rights is still very important, and it has been raised, though not mentioned specifically, in many comments that have been made so far.
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