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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 12 Hansard (13 November) . . Page.. 3494 ..

MRS DUNNE (continuing):

have as yet no water policy is an abject reflection on politics. I urge the government to support this measure.

Valuable work on water policy has been done by many institutes around the world, particularly by the Rocky Mountains Institute in the United States, which has identified the emerging paradigm of what it calls a "soft path"for urban water infrastructure, a terminology borrowed from the energy soft path. The energy soft path is characterised by highly efficient end-use technologies and widespread use of small-scale renewable energy resources-such as photovoltaics, wind power, biogas and hydrogen fuel cells-in contrast to a continued proliferation of large centralised fossil fuel and nuclear power plants and continued reliance on fossil fuel for motive power. The water soft path is similarly characterised by a wide use of diverse and often decentralised systems and, like the energy soft path, it places a strong emphasis on greatly increased efficiency in end use.

Australia has already made big strides in reducing home water use. The dual-flush six litre/three litre toilet cistern and pan is an Australian design. It has been exported and copied, and already some 40 per cent of Australian households have a dual flush loo.

The mandatory use of efficient showerheads will not fall on a surprised public, as already some 20 per cent of Australian households have one installed, and I suspect that that percentage is even higher in water-conscious Canberra. Efficient taps are already common and most taps on the market now have an aerator fitted.

What we are asking here is that showerheads have the highest efficiency rating, that all new taps over a shower or bath must be mixer taps and that all mixer taps must be spring loaded with a default setting to cold. What we are asking is that all new toilets be the six/three, dual-flush type and that garbage disposal units must not be fitted to sinks.

These are, in essence, simple but effective measures. They demonstrate that, as a community, we are serious about water. As a jurisdiction, we can give a lead. Going the extra step will make the territory, to my knowledge, the first jurisdiction anywhere in the world to put these measures on the statute book as a holistic rating system of water efficiency.

It is not a radical change: it is merely an attempt to codify what has occurred voluntarily and to extend the benefits to all households. Canberrans are already water conscious and we are building here on fertile ground. Over the past 20 years we have reduced our household water consumption by 25 per cent. What I am proposing with the bill is to build on that, to continue the momentum, to make the territory truly a showcase of what can be achieved sensibly and practically.

I commend the bill to the Assembly.

Debate (on motion by Mr Corbell ) adjourned to the next sitting.

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