Page 3557 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 25 August 2009
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bathrooms in the commercial sector. Earlier this year I launched the commercial bathroom retrofit program at the Best Western motel on Jerrabomberra Avenue. I was talking to the owner of that motel, and he has taken advantage of the government’s program to retrofit all of his bathrooms in over 100 rooms in his motel. He was talking to me about some of the issues associated with that, but he said: “You know what? This program’s really good, not just because it gives me some help in retrofitting and reducing our water use, but it also makes me think about sustainability issues more broadly.” As a result, he is now taking advantage of government programs in waste as well. It focuses very much on the issue of consumption, whether it is water, waste or, indeed, energy. That is a very important way that we are going to drive improvements moving forward in the commercial sector. These types of programs can provide a real entree into getting business owners and managers to focus on issues of consumption—in this case, water.
Moving forward, my colleague Mr Barr has outlined that the government is continuing its programs. From Mr Barr’s role as planning minister, he is looking at the issues around approval and consideration of development applications for a couple of very important projects. I would encourage members to look closely at the documentation that is being provided by Actew on water security projects. I note the very detailed environmental impact assessment that was recently provided, I think, to all members in relation to the Murrumbidgee to Googong transfer and, equally, the very detailed information that has already been provided in relation to the Cotter Dam projects.
What this confirms is that the government has a clear vision and a clear direction for improving water security for the territory. The challenges are enormous, with reduced rainfall continuing and with that rainfall reduction tracking on worst case scenarios around climate change. We need to make sure that we are strengthening our supply infrastructure and strengthening our demand management policy approaches. Both of those in combination will help deliver the best possible level of water security for our city and the surrounding region. It is that task that the government remains focused on. I thank members for their contributions on this very important matter.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Organised crime—government response to resolution of the Assembly
Paper and statement by minister
Debate resumed from 24 June 2009, on motion by Mr Corbell:
That the Assembly takes note of the paper.
MR HANSON (Molonglo) (12.07): It has certainly taken us a long time this morning to get to this item of business. The repetition, irrelevant discussion and laborious debate that have got us to this point have been quite remarkable. It goes to the heart of this government’s lack of vision, lack of agenda and lack of purpose. It is quite remarkable that it has taken till 10 past 12 to get to this issue.
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