Page 2437 - Week 08 - Thursday, 30 August 2007
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MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Minister for Health, Minister for Children and Young People, Minister for Disability and Community Services, Minister for Women) (3.33): I will not speak for more than a minute but I just wanted to respond to something Mr Mulcahy said in his speech. He referred to a woman who could not get an ACTION bus to Manuka, who fell over and fractured her hip, and who was then placed in the elective surgery queue for surgery. I just want to assure the Assembly that a fracture near the femur would qualify for emergency surgery. We rank No 1 in the country for access to emergency surgery.
MR STEFANIAK (Ginninderra—Leader of the Opposition) (3.34): I wish to address a number of issues in the TAMS budget. I refer, firstly, to environment and climate change and to the response of the department and the government. I think there are some concerns about the lack of action in these crucially important areas, which is a hallmark of this government. A word that comes to mind is tokenism. For example, last year it took the Chief Minister 16 months just to come up with a couple of cursory cut and paste type discussion papers on energy and climate change, and they just stated the bleeding obvious, namely, that they are serious issues.
Those papers certainly did not contain any specific policy options on which we could have had a productive debate. Indeed, there has been a lack of real substance. During the term of this government it has downgraded the environment advisory structure, abandoned the last Liberal government’s greenhouse gas targets—which initially it liked but it abandoned them as too hard—bungled the regeneration of the lower Cotter catchment area, and failed to provide real leadership on water conservation. Now, of course, it is trying to play catch up on that crucial water security issue.
Indeed, the crucial nature of our water supply is slightly less critical since the onset of the recent good rains, but we have not had much for a few weeks which is really worrying.
Mr Hargreaves: This is the Actew line.
MR STEFANIAK: This matter has revealed in all its starkness the ineptitude and lack of leadership of the ACT government on this vital issue, which is essential to the survival of the city of Canberra.
Mr Hargreaves: You have got the wrong item again.
MR STEFANIAK: No. What I am saying, Mr Hargreaves, if you listen—and I will not go through things like environmental flows, because that is the Actew line—
Mr Hargreaves: That is right.
MR STEFANIAK: The government prematurely wound back water restrictions at the end of 2005.
Mr Hargreaves: He is on the wrong line again.
MR STEFANIAK: Here is one issue that does concern you. We lag behind the regional councils which have taken a proactive approach to encourage citizens to save
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