Page 2790 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 23 June 2009
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The government has said that this is going to result in the release of a business waste reduction strategy in 2011. I understand that the business waste challenge program from 2006 produced a business guide to businesses and commissioned a strategy for a new approach to business waste. I do not want to see this new funding frittered away repeating work or reassessing things that we already know. We need to use it to actually take some hard decisions and get out of the business-as-usual rut.
Another important part of the TAMS portfolio is the Property Group. One of the committee’s recommendations was:
… that the ACT Property Group prioritise energy and water savings as a contribution to achieving the efficiency dividend across ACT Government.
A better approach is needed, highlighted by the fact that the energy efficiency of government buildings is often quite poor. For example, I am informed that TAMS buildings such as the Dickson motor vehicle registry and Macarthur House do not measure up to the benchmarks for energy efficiency set by the government. I am pleased to see that the government has accepted this recommendation and I look forward to it being robustly implemented.
One last thing I would like to mention from the TAMS portfolio is the RSPCA. I have been disappointed that the government has not increased funding for the RSPCA so that it can continue animal services around Canberra. With the funding it is receiving, the RSPCA has said that it is actually going to have to cut services managing straying cats and dogs and cut its education program. Domestic Animal Services’ response was that it will accommodate increased dog referrals within its current business practices, that it does not care for stray cats and that the department of animal services education program will have to fill the void. I am not sure that in the long run this is going to work out to be an adequate solution. I think it might be a false economy, especially as far as the cats are concerned.
In conclusion, this is an important department and I would like to see it broaden its horizons to be less car-focused.
MR HANSON (Molonglo) (10.14): Firstly, I would like to commend Alistair Coe for not only the speech he gave tonight in the Assembly but also the work that he has done in his role as shadow minister for territory and municipal—
Mr Barr: You’re looking for his vote for the leadership challenge, are you, Jeremy? Is that why you are buttering him up now?
MR HANSON: Actually, no. This is the error that the Labor Party often make. They are such factional warlords; they sit themselves on the left and the right. Mr Barr is to the right of the Liberal Party on economic matters, I believe. I know that these are the mistakes that the Labor Party make. When they look at us, they look at a mirror of themselves and they know their mistakes. I feel free and unencumbered to praise my colleague for the work he is doing both in the speech that he made tonight and the hard work that he does in the community with his constituents. He is an example to us
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