Page 3851 - Week 13 - Thursday, 18 October 1990
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I would like to talk about the Mitchell tip in a minute, but I especially want to speak to the bureaucracies through this Assembly. For many years the bureaucracies conducted their business without a legislative assembly and without a government. They thought they made the decisions, and in this particular case, I believe, a decision was made, it suddenly got made, it got into the works, it was done and it was unfortunate, and there are many of us who recognise that that was the case. So, I would say to the bureaucracies of the ACT: once upon a time you all functioned without the existence of government and without the existence of committees. Now you need to be aware of them. It is a voice of caution to bureaucracies to recognise that they need to know what is going on in this place.
I now want to come briefly to the matter of the Mitchell Recycling Centre. I was well aware that the Department of Urban Services was trying hard to recoup or recapture the initiative and was trying to get things done, and I was pleased on 21 September, the day before the Raiders beat Penrith, to go out there to the Mitchell Recycling Centre. I urge those of you who have not been there to do that. I am impressed by it. I think the full problems of the Ainslie tip have not been resolved. I think there is a great problem left vis-a-vis the recycling of compostable material, but I think the department has tried to do something in that connection and I am sure north Canberra residents are grateful for that Mitchell facility. This is a huge matter. (Extension of time granted)
Again, in a sense, I come back to something Mr Humphries said. In this particular case a Standing Committee on Conservation, Heritage and Environment looked at a crucial matter - a whole lot of us looked at that crucial matter - and came up with all kinds of recommendations. A report was finished, it was laid here, and it has been here for many months. The Government responded. I do not believe that the committee should now let this matter lapse. For example, there is the question of split big bins, the question of recycled paper, the question of what can be done with the new technology vis-a-vis big bins. We need to keep the concerns that were the concerns of that committee going. We need constantly to be aware of the changing technology - things are happening so fast - and as we move on to our energy inquiry I hope that at the same time we will not forget this particular matter.
I know that there were some awkward moments in the committee. I regret those and I regret any part that I might have been seen to have played in that, but I do believe that at the end of the day we have done as well as we can do. The Government has responded as well as it can at the moment. I do not agree with every conclusion that has been arrived at and I hope that there will be
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