Page 1606 - Week 06 - Thursday, 3 May 1990
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Mercury Pollution
MS MAHER: My question is directed to the Minister for Finance and Urban Services and it refers to an article in Tuesday's Canberra Times, which reported that mercury is entering Lake Burley Griffin as a result of the crushing and disposal of old streetlight globes by ACTEW. Can the Minister say whether this is true or not?
MR DUBY: Thank you, Ms Maher, for the question. I am happy to be able to report that the article was incorrect. The practice of crushing streetlight globes and disposing of them at the Kingston depot, I believe, no longer takes place. As a matter of fact, Mr Speaker, I am happy to be able to report that it has not occurred during this Government's stewardship of ACTEW. It did occur, of course, while the previous Government was in control of ACTEW.
The simple fact is that ACTEW no longer disposes of those light globes by crushing them at its Kingston depot. The globes are now disposed of as commercial waste. When that crushing was occurring there were trace amounts of mercury present in vaporous form in some streetlights. It is estimated that in the order of 17 grams of mercury per annum were discharging into the stormwater system, and thence into Lake Burley Griffin. ACT Electricity and Water is currently investigating the most appropriate way of disposing of these lamps naturally rather than crushing them, as that is a hazard to the environment, but I am pleased to report that the practice no longer exists.
ACT Police Force
MR STEVENSON: My question is to the Chief Minister, Mr Kaine. Has the ACT Government accepted the sum of $42m-odd for the Australian Federal Police force as taken, or are we doing a separate analysis?
MR KAINE: The answer to the question in broad terms, Mr Speaker, is no, we have not yet accepted the $42m as being the final figure. There has always been some question about the accuracy of the costings done by the Australian Federal Police. This is no reflection on the police. It goes back to the early days of the Grants Commission inquiries where their accounting system was not set up in such a manner as to separate out the cost of running the ACT division of the Federal Police as opposed to the total Australian Federal Police system.
I am quite sure that over the years they have refined their accounting system and the $42m would be much more accurate today, and I will accept it as being much more accurate
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