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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 14 Hansard (11 December) . . Page.. 5273 ..

MRS DUNNE (continuing):

magic wand when it comes to Paterson's curse."I would say that there is a magic wand. It is called a boom spray. If you look at the photographs that the opposition has provided, they show government land like the Roman Empire, picked out in purple, while neighbouring private land has got the weed under control because they do not keep bankers' hours.

The response to bushfire hazard reduction, as we have said in this place on a number of occasions, has been ad hoc and designed for show rather than effect. The minister for the environment made an embarrassing gaffe on national breakfast television some time ago when he said that it was too cold and too wet to do hazard reduction burning through the Canberra winter. The government thought it would get its act together, so it had "It's Wednesday, so we must have a hazard reduction"stunt. Every week for five weeks we had a hazard reduction burn in areas designed to be visible to suburbia-it did not matter whether or not the weather conditions were in our favour. One day Mr Wood and various others went out to Black Mountain to show just how much they were doing for hazard reduction burning. The trouble is that it rained and almost nothing was burnt as a result.

In addition to the stunts, we have had the razing of suburban hillsides regardless of the views of experts or the residents, because the trees were not an approved species; water restrictions designed to prolong the sense of crisis and hopefully the political goodwill that goes with meeting a crisis rather than doing anything about long-term water efficiency let alone supply; and the first algal blooms, which will be inevitable in our lakes this summer and in our water supply if the government continues to cut off environmental flows. This government has completely failed to learn the lessons of two fire crises and, as a result, we are facing a fire crisis this year with very large grassfires threatened on our north-western perimeters.

Aside from this we have other issues. The environmental record is equally appalling. We had the spectacle in this place in the last sitting period of the government throwing a tanty over plastic bags. You could not call it anything else but a tantrum. The government tried the usual political tactic of moving a motion calling for action: from more drop off recycling points and more education and awareness, to the trialling of a plastic bag levy and the use of biodegradable and degradable plastic bags, to one of self-congratulations: the signing-up to a national convention with reduction targets.

As with all things, this government is about platitudes and documents, but never about action. We have the great strategy, which was underpinned by much investment and much action over many years, of no waste by 2010 being completely sidelined by this government and this Minister for Urban Services. In the very early days of the Assembly there was a debate about the future of putrescible waste. People may think that putrescible waste is a bit icky and possibly amusing. This government has entirely dropped the ball on this matter. Putrescible waste has been raised with this minister over and over again.

What has happened? Nothing. I was told successively in two separate estimates committees, "We are looking into it. There is emerging technology but we must be sure that it works."That is a contradiction in terms. If it is emerging technology, you have to be sure that it works or you are never going to take it up. In order to deal with putrescible waste you need to latch onto emerging technology. What we have had here is this minister saying that we need to be sure about emerging technology.

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