Page 3502 - Week 12 - Thursday, 19 September 1991
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so, and it was very interesting to hear them discuss this. Only the householder's knowledge of correct burning principles contributes to the elimination of the smoke haze.
Our chairman, I must say, has one of these heaters and he does take this into account. He spends time, when he has his heater in use, in checking exactly what sort of smoke content the heater is causing and does something about it. Unfortunately, the majority in Canberra - and we have found this with recycling - do not really take this into account and do not make the effort to ensure that their heater is being used in the most efficient way. As for Mr Jensen and recycling paper, he obviously has not noted that the Government is already doing this; it is using recycled paper. I am not surprised, as Mr Jensen would not know what was going on half the time anyway, I am sure.
It is important to identify all the problems in the area of the ACT and to consult with our nearby New South Wales shires in adopting appropriate standards. We are not an island, as we may think; we are in the middle of New South Wales. Therefore, we should be adopting the principles that they have brought into play, or maybe bringing in better ones so that we can then negotiate with them to do the same. After all, not very far over the border is Queanbeyan and smoke does travel, unfortunately. Therefore, both of us are going to suffer from this. As for Mr Jensen saying that he will be back here to do it, he will be lucky if he is back here. You know what they say: When the numbers are against you, God almighty cannot save you; and thank goodness for God almighty.
I would like to thank all the committee members, and particularly the two chairmen I served under. I have been on this committee for quite some time. Dr Kinloch did a very good job chairing this committee. Michael Moore did an excellent job. Michael was very keen to talk to lots of people before we made a lot of these decisions. Michael made this available to us. I think that all on the committee learnt a lot from discussions with people from all the fields of heating. I spent a very interesting time on this committee. So, I thank Michael and Dr Kinloch.
I also thank Bill Symington, who was the secretary of the committee while I was serving on it. Bill did an extremely good job, particularly on the cover of our first report. I thought it was an excellent cover. It gave the effect of the whole of Canberra being under a smoke haze and it made people think very seriously about the problem. I thank Bill for the effort that he put into this report.
The haze has been a worry to a lot of the people in Canberra. As I say, I have had a lot of complaints, and I think we should be looking at caravan parks for long-stayers. It is a very serious situation. We could have a terrible fire at some time in these caravan parks. When I checked with the fire brigade on the situation and asked
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