Page 3031 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 14 September 1993
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I would offer to Mr De Domenico or independent members access to the information that he has brought back, including a very informative video showing what is going on through Europe. One of the staggering things there is that the fees for commercial access to tips in Germany work out in real terms at a factor of about 100 on what our fees are. It is a staggeringly high cost. You can make recycling economically viable in Germany and other parts of Europe simply because the cost of dumping is prohibitively high, massively high.
Mr De Domenico: And they are run by the private sector and are more efficient.
MR CONNOLLY: The tips here are run by the Government and we are going to introduce a $22 fee. In Germany they are efficiently run by the private sector and they charge the equivalent of about a $2,200 fee. So, no wonder that they are more effective. What you have in Europe is a very conscious government policy to massively increase the cost of land fill - a sensible policy in an area where land fill is a problem. We will not be going to that extreme in the ACT, but we have taken the difficult decision to move to charging tip fees. I am pleased to see that the Opposition is not going to play politics on this one and will support it in the long term.
Mr Berry: Ha, ha!
MR CONNOLLY: Mr Berry is less charitable than I am and suspects that when we introduce tip fees there will be opposition criticism. We will just have to wait and see what happens. This is a consequential measure upon the introduction of commercial fees.
One aspect which Mr De Domenico did not allude to in his speech - I hope that it did come out in his consultations - is that the Government did move very swiftly to address the concern of the building sector that the introduction of commercial tip fees would impose a significant additional cost on Canberra home building and in particular affect entry level first home purchases. As a response to those concerns, the Government has been operating a free service for clean fill and is working with the private sector. In fact, we recently formally issued invitations for tender for clean fill storage points.
Home builders or building companies who have clean fill can deposit it at perhaps a nominal fee and builders who need fill can go and pick it up. We will avoid the situation where all clean fill will have to go through the tips. We will avoid the situation that home builders will have to pay the $22 and we will also avoid the situation where all the fill is going into the land fill. So we win all round as a result, Mr De Domenico, of some quite intensive negotiations we have had with the relevant industry groups. The suggestion that there has been no consultation or inadequate consultation from the Government, I think, is clearly refuted by the successful way we have introduced that. I thank the Opposition for their support for the legislation.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
Leave granted to dispense with the detail stage.
Bill agreed to.
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