Page 2001 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 8 September 1992
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That will mean that all recyclable material can be tossed into the recycling bin, and it will be sorted later. We will set up a conveyor belt arrangement and people will be employed to do the sorting. That has a significant advantage, Madam Speaker, over the systems which are used in some other States, which rely on residents pre-sorting - putting glass in one bin, aluminium in another bin, and plastics in another. A number of Sydney councils are using plastic crates for pre-sorting. We will not be pre-sorting. I would expect that there would be general support in the community for this initiative and rejection of the 240-litre bin proposal.
As recently as the week we announced this I heard members opposite extolling the virtues of the 240-litre bins. I would remind the Liberal Opposition that only last night on the ABC national television news that we get down here Mr Hartcher, the New South Wales Liberal Environment Minister, made it clear that they are looking to phase out 240-litre bins in Sydney because of the fact that they actively operate against recycling. Once again, Madam Speaker, the Labor Government's foresight has been shown to be correct. The Liberal Party in New South Wales is rejecting this proposal; yet the local Liberals, according to the last we heard from them on this issue, still seem to be clinging to the 240-litre bin idea which has been rejected even by their party colleagues in New South Wales.
Nursing Services
MR HUMPHRIES: Madam Speaker, my question is to the Minister for Health, Mr Berry. The Minister has stated that the Labor Party is about reducing costs without reducing services. I refer the Minister, however, to the statements of Ms Maureen Sheehan, of the Trades and Labour Council, on WIN news last night, when she said, "It's absolutely impossible for the nurses to lose any staff numbers at all, and carry on the level of service that they currently give to the community. The thing is that if you cut staff numbers you must reduce service levels". In respect of the Minister's department, is Ms Sheehan correct?
MR BERRY: I find this a very interesting question. What Mr Humphries needs to learn - this is something that he never learned in the past - is that there is a need, when you are managing difficult budgets, first of all to come in on target. Never fall behind by $6m, because you will wear that every time you go swimming in politics. It is good to come out with a slight surplus. It is very good. That is part of the process of proper management in our hospital system. Madam Speaker, it is important to manage industrial relations in a sensible way. That is something that the Labor Party in the ACT, in government, has come to grips with very well. We have maintained our special relationship with the trade union movement, and we will continue to do so.
The issue to which Mr Humphries refers - the comment by a trade union official about what might occur in the budget - is something that Mr Humphries will have to wait for, because the budget is going to be announced next week. If it is in relation to the budget you will have to wait until next week. When it comes to the positions which are taken by respective union officials, they are entitled to express a view about the future of their constituency. The position I have always maintained is that I do not invite confrontation in the media when it comes to dealing with industrial issues. The Labor Party, in office, is concerned about a responsible approach to industrial relations, something that the Liberals have never been able to come to grips with.
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