Page 1412 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 1 May 1990
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That was one recommendation. Another recommendation was that it "investigate the possibility of a special collection bin at the Ainslie Transfer Station for organic wastes".
Mr Duby has left the chamber. I hope he has done so to read this report, as so far he has clearly not done so. Finally, the most damning recommendation of all, although Mr Duby again has denied its existence - it is in this report in black and white and is the one that Dr Kinloch, I believe, has to stick by - is "that recycling facilities at both landfill sites and Ainslie Transfer Station be upgraded and access improved".
So I believe that the report has made it clear that the Ainslie Transfer Station, in the view of that committee on which the Government had the numbers, was to be improved, not closed; that access was to be upgraded, not denied. Did the Government suggest closure of the transfer station to that committee? Of course it did not. So either it misled the committee and this Assembly or it completely failed to listen to the committee's recommendations. Either way, I believe both Dr Kinloch and Mr Duby are left with egg all over their faces.
Members of the media have remarked in the past few days on how strong the feeling on this issue is in the north Canberra suburbs. I am not surprised by that because I know how much the transfer station is used by the community and how much it needs it. Had Mr Duby or Mr Kaine or any of the other Ministers bothered to ask the community, the Government would have been saved this embarrassment. Mr Duby's answers at question time today and last week have exposed the fact that this decision was taken in complete ignorance of the level of use of the Ainslie Transfer Station. He does not have the remotest idea how many people use it. Given that he had no idea, I believe it might have been appropriate for him to ask. He could have asked the community. He could have asked Dr Kinloch, who obviously would have been able to tell him what the service means to the community.
But the arrogance of the members of this Government knows no bounds. We saw this with the ignorant blustering of the Chief Minister when he said last Thursday that "there would be no detriment to anybody by closing down that transfer station". That is all he knows. He went on to say that "every minor administrative decision is not referred to the public". I think that the people of north Canberra would be very interested to know that the Chief Minister considers this a minor administrative decision.
The Chief Minister also seems to think that this decision affects only the people of Ainslie. Last Thursday he said, "If you do not happen to live in Ainslie you put your rubbish in your car or your trailer and you deliver it out there", meaning West Belconnen or Mugga Lane - not Mugga
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