Page 6051 - Week 18 - Thursday, 12 December 1991
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I hope that does not include me doing something to my fridge at home. It then says:
A person shall not, without reasonable excuse, use an ozone depleting substance except in accordance with a licence.
I have a question to pose to the Minister, and I hope that he listens to this: When does a person use an ozone depleting substance? When I put goods in my refrigerator and turn the refrigerator on, am I not using an ozone depleting substance? I ask that because, quite certainly, inside my refrigerator there are coolants which are, if released, potentially ozone depleting. Am I not using those coolants when I turn my refrigerator on, or when I operate the air-conditioner in my car?
I am sure that the Minister has a satisfactory explanation for that point. I therefore will not use that as some basis on which to reject the legislation. That is going, I suspect, too far. But I sincerely hope that the penalty of $5,000 or imprisonment for six months is not, at least in theory, incurred by any person who happens to use any one of the tens of thousands of appliances in our community which contain ozone depleting substances.
As I indicated, the Bill contains quite extensive powers to search and to seize. We are accustomed these days to those sorts of powers, and I suppose that we have to accept them to some extent. I can understand that the environment authorities need to be vigilant in tracking down places or persons who are responsible for acts which damage our environment. But, again, I think it is important for us to realise that we are treading on dangerous ground if those sorts of powers are not strictly controlled.
I think it is worth noting that this Assembly has a strict responsibility not only to pass laws like this into the statute books but also to monitor the way in which those laws are being enforced. I am sure I speak for my own party and probably for other parties in this Assembly when I say that, if I see circumstances where these sorts of powers are exercised beyond their intention in the passing of legislation, I will be among the first to come back to this place and say, "These things should be tightened up".
I believe that it may be appropriate, subject to what the Minister has to say, for us to err on the side of being generous in the granting of powers to environment protection authorities to make sure that they have the necessary capacity to deal with positions where our environment is being damaged. Certainly, they should have powers which are suitable for those purposes. But, as they appear on their face, these powers are extremely wide indeed, and I sincerely hope that the Minister has a satisfactory explanation as to how the Government will exercise caution and restraint in the exercise of those powers.
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