Page 1116 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 20 March 1991
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into that and he is to be congratulated. That, of course, is the necessary prerequisite to dealing generally with the skateboarding issues raised by the committee.
I believe, in retrospect, that the organisation for the 1990 Summernats was very successful, although I am still awaiting advice so that I can inform the Assembly as to the economic equation relating to that event. Certainly, there were fewer public behaviour problems than in the past. Of course, it has now become the style, after self-government, for all major public events to involve consultations between the police, other government agencies and organisers to minimise public behaviour problems.
The issue of alcohol consumption is one that interests me considerably. Firstly, on safety concerns: The Government is considering alternatives to glass container deposit legislation which is supposed to promote recycling. This accords with New South Wales concerns in the area, but it would be too costly and ineffective for the ACT to go it alone.
On that point, Mr Speaker, I was appalled on Sunday night to walk through the city from this Assembly. I walked to the bus interchange, down through Garema Place and out to Bunda Street, and up around the Private Bin. I was appalled to find broken glass everywhere I walked - broken stubbies, to be correct. There were jagged ends facing upwards and there were numbers of young people with bare feet and unprotected foot coverings. I have raised that concern with my colleague Mr Duby, but I think that raising penalties is only one aspect of the matter.
Clearly, there is a public education issue that has to be addressed when our national capital streets are covered with glass the way they were last Sunday night. It was a disgraceful situation, and one that we need to be aware of if there is to be another Food and Wine Frolic. I can assure members that I will station police and others to watch that situation because I only wish the 106 police who were in Commonwealth Park were also in and around that area to catch those louts who threw and left glass around our streets. It was a disgrace. Full marks go to Mr Duby's urban services operation for cleaning up that mess on the Monday.
I believe that alcohol consumption remains the No. 1 issue in our community. I welcome the tentative comments made by my colleague Mr Humphries about the need to start looking at alcohol advertising. It is an issue, of course, that the Ministers at the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy - - -
Mr Connolly: We had a speech about free speech in relation to restricting advertising from the Chief Minister earlier on.
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