Page 3262 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 18 August 2009
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Almost all slogans have an aspirational purpose … it will never ever be achieved. I think it was an appropriate slogan and an appropriate target.
He knows, we the opposition know, the Greens know and the community knows; so why does he continue to hide behind a slogan nobody can believe? It is because he is a Chief Minister who is more concerned about perception than reality. The ACT government has never been serious about implementing policies to meet the target of no waste by 2010.
This MPI is being discussed today because in January the government flagged a possible green waste initiative in this year’s budget as part of the parliamentary agreement with the Greens. No such initiatives are present and, instead, the budget reveals a waste strategy that has no direction, is expensive and has no sign of improving. We have a landfill approaching capacity and a government with no ideas for meeting the ACT’s future waste management challenges.
A quick glance at the budget figures reveals that waste management has not been taken seriously by the Stanhope government. The operational cost of landfill has risen significantly over the last two years—by $11.70 per tonne in 2007-08 to $16.20 per tonne in 2008-09, with another rise to $17.40 over 2009-10.
I am concerned that the cost of green waste processing will no longer be measured. I am astounded that, after measuring it and setting targets for the cost of green waste processing, in this year’s budget papers, this appears:
… it cannot accurately be measured as weighbridges are not in operation for green waste.
It speaks volumes of Stanhope and his government that they set a target for something they know they could not measure in the first place.
In contrast to the Stanhope-Gallagher government, the Canberra Liberals have a practical plan for green waste processing. Our green bins policy provides for the collection and recycling of Canberra’s organic waste. Instead of business as usual, the Canberra Liberals will provide Canberrans with an easy way to recycle their household waste.
The government continues to ignore the fact that most household waste in Canberra can be recycled and that by recycling this waste we can take a significant amount of waste out of landfill. Almost half of Canberra’s domestic garbage is comprised of food and other compostables and a further almost 10 per cent is green waste. Through the green bins policy, we can halve the amount of domestic waste going to landfill and reduce the overall amount of rubbish in landfill by 20 per cent. The organic recycling will produce compost that can cover vast areas of land, enrich soils and improve the health of vegetation. In addition to providing green bins to households, Canberra’s businesses and government buildings will be part of the green bin service.
Where does the Stanhope government stand on the green bins policy? In fact, in 2001 one of the first acts of the incoming Stanhope-Gallagher government was to scrap the
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