Page 1418 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 1 May 1990
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Station, whose fate Ms Follett was so bemoaning. The people who do not take any rubbish at all but simply take glass and cans can now go to a much more convenient place than the Ainslie Transfer Station.
The new Mitchell recycling centre will complement existing and planned recycling centres at Tuggeranong, Belconnen and Woden and the two landfill sites at Belconnen and Mugga Lane. The land and equipment from the Ainslie Transfer Station will remain assets of the ACT Government. Suggestions that this decision has been made so that the land can be sold off quickly and turned into a ready cash reserve are, frankly, straight out of Alice in Wonderland. The Government did not believe it would be cost-effective - - -
Mr Wood: Isn't it part of the ACT Nature Park?
MR DUBY: I am pleased to hear Mr Wood say that. Yes, it is.
Mr Wood: Otherwise you would try to sell it.
MR DUBY: No; that is where I beg to differ. The Government did not believe it would be cost-effective to continue operating the station under these conditions and, having considered the environmental implications which I have already spoken of, decided to close the facility. As I mentioned before, $200,000 per annum could be better spent on further encouraging recycling in the whole of the ACT, not just for those citizens of the inner north.
Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, the closure of the Ainslie Transfer Station, whilst a necessary cost-saving measure, is not inconsistent at all with this Government's comprehensive plan to develop an integrated waste management strategy. The Alliance Government is committed to this cause. The ongoing savings arising from the closure of the Ainslie Transfer Station can be better utilised to further extend our recycling facilities.
Canberra people have a strong recycling ethic, and the Government is committed to providing appropriate facilities for the community. With that in mind, it makes a joke of the matter of public importance, that there is a need to retain the Ainslie Transfer Station. I think I have demonstrated that the Government has a firm commitment to recycling facilities throughout not just the inner north but all of the ACT and that recycling can be efficiently done throughout Canberra without retaining the transfer station yet with a saving for the ACT community.
But, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, there is one further point that I would like to raise in relation to the comments that Ms Follett made. As usual, in her opening statement she made highly emotionally charged accusations which appear to be headline grabbers for the people in the media who are present - like suggesting that we are closing the Ainslie Transfer Station to look after our business
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