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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 1 Hansard (8 December) . . Page.. 3961 ..

MS CARNELL (continuing):

Ms Tucker is using it for purely personal reasons, so that at taxpayers' expense she can send out copies of her speech to some of the people who would support her. I think that is unbelievable and unacceptable.

Ms Tucker is very good at talking about consultation. She says that we should consult to find out what the people want. We cannot consult with the people in these areas, because they are not our constituents. A regional leaders forum that does cover this region met last week, and the feedback I had from people there was that they do not support this approach. They believe that the approach that is being taken here will cost jobs. It appears that at least some of the members who do represent the people who live in this area do not support Ms Tucker's approach at all. So much for consultation. We are not even consulting with the people who live in the area, or the people who represent the people who live in the area. We will just come in right over the top and attempt to tell them how they should run their area. If they tried to tell us how to run the ACT, I would be severely unimpressed, and I believe everyone in this house, including Ms Tucker, would be. I think we should immediately go on to the next item on the agenda after we oppose this motion.

MR KAINE (11.15): I do not support this motion, for the final remark that the Chief Minister made. I think it would be the height of arrogance for us to tell the Government of New South Wales how to do their business. I agree with the Chief Minister. If the New South Wales Government tried to do that with us, particularly if it was a matter to do with the environment that did not please Ms Tucker, she would be the first one on her high horse about it. It is not our place to tell another government what they should or should not do, or how they should and should not do it. For that reason, I will not support this motion.

MR OSBORNE (11.16): I do not think Ms Tucker has gone far enough, quite frankly. If we are going to tell other governments what to do, we should go the whole hog. I have an amendment to her motion which I will possibly move. It will add that we write to the Premier of Queensland to ensure he does more for the survival of the dugongs in that State and that we write to the Premier of Western Australia to ensure that he does more to protect the dolphins at Monkey Mia, near Broome. Then I think we should write to the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory to ensure that he is doing enough for the protection of the sea turtles. Then perhaps we could write to the Premier of South Australia to ensure that South Australia are protecting the great white shark, an endangered species.

I do not think Ms Tucker has gone far enough. Someone suggested that we should write to the President of Indonesia and ask him not to use lead in the bullets they use to kill people, because lead is bad for the environment. We can perhaps do a lot of things, but we have no place in writing to other governments on issues like this.

MR CORBELL (11.18): There is no doubt that many people in the ACT would have considerable concerns about the operation of woodchipping in the south-east forests. Many Canberrans, indeed a great majority of Canberrans, at one stage or another have enjoyed the natural beauty of the south coast. They have appreciated the fact that it is an unspoilt area. Most Canberrans would want to see it remain that way.

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