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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 12 Hansard (20 November) . . Page.. 4457 ..

MR PRATT (continuing):

adulation finishes. As I was saying before, it is a great pity that Mr Stanhope sought to politicise this matter. The speech that he gave on the day was highly emotive, highly divisive for the occasion and had little to do with practical ideas on helping Baghdad. I would implore him to accept that his behaviour was not practical and is not going to help out on these very important issues.

Paterson's curse

Legislative Assembly

Youth culture

MRS DUNNE (5.41): Yesterday, in response to a question about why private land mangers seem to be able to make a better job of managing the current Paterson's curse infestation than government land managers, Mr Stanhope said:

I am almost lost for words-

It is a shame that he was not-

That was the greatest load of unmitigated garbage that I have had presented to me as a question.

I would like to pass over the arrogance and focus on the substance, Mr Speaker. I seek leave to table for the information of members a series of photographs of infestations of Paterson's curse on government land.

Leave granted.

MRS DUNNE: I table the following papers:

Patterson's Curse-seven (7) photographs.

Narrabundah Hill, many of the government horse paddocks and land adjoining Dunlop, all managed by the ACT government, are badly infested. Birrigai is an absolute disgrace. Photographs 1 to 4 in that list illustrate some of the affected land. By contrast, private land is relatively free of the weed. Privately-leased land adjoining Narrabundah Hill provides a stark contrast. I refer members to photograph No 5, showing the property abounding Narrabundah Hill where the Paterson's curse line is particularly marked, and photograph No 6, showing the boundary between privately-leased land and land occupied by the Rivers Fire Brigade, to demonstrate the difference in land management practices. Photograph No 7 shows Paterson's curse affected government managed forestry easement through a private lease-a strip of purple in a landscape of green. All of those photographs were taken on 1 November. I invite members to examine the photographs and decide for themselves whether it was an unmitigated load of rubbish, as the government has claimed.

Why has the government failed to address the Paterson's curse issue on ACT government land when private lessees seem to have been much more successful? Today, the Chief Minister spoke about the sea of purple over south-east Australia. In the last couple of weeks I, on separate occasions, have driven to Murrumbateman and to Sydney

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