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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 10 Hansard (6 December) . . Page.. 2742 ..

Mr Berry: What about Clampett?

MR MOORE: Mr Berry smiles and reminds us of Clampett. Mr Stevenson used to quote the Clampett theories, such as, "All we need to do is print a bit more money and everything will be okay". That was part of the conspiracy theory. The conspiracy theory involved the banks. Between them, the banks and the scientists together are planning to take over the world and pretend that all sorts of destruction is going to take place in order to make sure that the populace does what we tell them. Of course, Mr Stevenson's solution to these things was always particularly well thought out. You just carried out a survey and did what the result of the survey said. That is just a little aside. It is relevant, as you recognise, Mr Speaker, because it is about the ozone layer. It is interesting that perhaps with some maturing of the Assembly we lose a little bit of the colour.

MR SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr Moore. The Chair certainly shares your views on that.

MR HUMPHRIES (Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning (3.34), in reply: I thank members for their contributions, colourless though they may be. I am pleased that the Assembly does move unanimously to support this legislation. I am also pleased that it has been done in a way that does not politicise the issue. It is possible to make something of the fact that the timetable for the phasing out of CFCs and HCFCs could be said, in one sense, to have slipped somewhat; that we are now not going to phase out some substances which are damaging to the ozone layer until the year 2030. It could be said by some people to be a backsliding exercise, but I am pleased that that is not the case. I am pleased that the Assembly has joined in agreeing that this is a realistic timetable and one in which the Assembly can feel confident that there is real action being taken and a real example being set by the ACT.

I am very proud of the extent to which we are able to continue to lead the country in respect of ozone depleting substance removal. Obviously, there are a great many domestic appliances and other things around our community, and probably in each of our homes, which contain ozone depleting substances. It would be unrealistic to expect the ban on the production of HCFCs and CFCs, originally proposed for some time before the turn of the century, to be applied in such a way as to force people to have their ozone depleting substances taken from their own domestic appliances such as refrigerators and air-conditioning units. This timetable is a good one, I think, because substances that are replaced inside those machines will be replaced with substances which are much less ozone depleting or, in fact, ozone benign. Over a period, as those machines have to be replaced, we can get to the stage where they are replaced by new, friendly to the environment machinery and, over a period of time, the problem will be eliminated. I can only say, Mr Speaker, that I hope that other places in Australia, and other countries in the world, are able to adopt and keep to a timetable as vigorous as this. I thank members for their support and I commend this Bill to the house.

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