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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 06 Hansard (Wednesday, 23 June 2004) . . Page.. 2545 ..

He will not set himself to do anything and he will remove all reminders that this territory ever had an ambition to be the best, ever had the ambition to lead the world, to change the world, to influence the world, to make the world a better place. He will get rid of those targets as well. Will you commit to the no waste by 2010 strategy, Chief Minister, or is it next to go? Is it? Go on; tell us. Will the no waste by 2010 strategy be next?

Ms MacDonald: I take a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I ask that the Leader of the Opposition direct his comments through the chair.

THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: I uphold the point of order.

MR SMYTH: Ms MacDonald is right: talking to a chair might bring about a better outcome here, Mr Deputy Speaker. The point here is that, unless you have something to measure yourself against, you do not know where you have got to, where you are going, how far you have to go, how much more effort you have to make or what you have to do. He is saying that his government is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions as though it is okay just to say that it is committed and that that is what it is being asked to do here. That is not leadership. That is not the stuff that the people of the ACT expect of their government.

Sometimes targets will not be reached and sometimes governments will fail in not reaching those targets, but if we accept that and we do not set ourselves targets, we will be stuck in the horse and cart age. Jon Stanhope would have us stuck in the horse and cart age because it was oh so much easier then. You need to strive, you need to reach out and set yourself targets. Sometimes you will fail, but along the way you will find answers to achieving what you should aspire to achieve. That is why we will not be supporting the weak-kneed amendment put forward by the minister for reviews, the Chief Minister.

The Chief Minister wants to review the territory’s commitment. He ought to get out and talk to the community about his endless pile of reviews. The people are sick of the reviews and want some action. They want things to be achieved on their behalf so that Canberra becomes a better place to live, not something that was caught in what happened 10 years ago, which is where he seems to want to live. Jon Stanhope is not willing to take action.

The only thing that came out of his speech was his mention of the incoming government. I hope to lead the incoming government. I will give it some leadership. We will set ourselves some targets and we will achieve something on behalf of the people of the ACT. We might not always get there and we might have to modify what we aspire to do, but we will strive to do something, unlike the weak-kneed reaction we are getting from the Chief Minister today. Set yourself some targets and set yourself some time lines, Chief Minister. You might be able to achieve something if you try.

MRS DUNNE (5.50): Mr Deputy Speaker, I would like to speak to Mr Stanhope’s amendment to Ms Tucker’s motion. The reason that the opposition is not supporting this amendment, as eloquently outlined by the Leader of the Opposition, is that it is a counsel of defeat. The trouble is that the government has decided that it cannot do anything, so it

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