Page 3496 - Week 08 - Thursday, 23 August 2012
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working days, used the stop-the-clock methodology but that indicator has been discontinued and no new indicators will be developed until the new legislation is introduced and possibly, I assume, even passed. And this is clearly an unsatisfactory situation.
The Greens have been particularly concerned about the development application process in heritage precincts, and particularly the role the Heritage Council plays in assessing whether any proposed changes are consistent with heritage requirements. We were pleased to see the estimates report recommended that the government speed up current discussions between the heritage unit in ESD and ACTPLA to clarify how work in heritage areas, exempt from development act approval, can be better managed. This is an area where there have been issues and we note, again, as we do every year, the government has done little, if anything, to assist the Heritage Council to address its still large backlog of heritage-listed nominations. And I could ask: when will this be improved?
I will now move briefly to waste, as I did touch on a number of these issues in my speech on TAMS. TAMS, of course, are the people who actually look after the waste. It is ESD who do the policy. And I will reiterate my concerns for a policy level, and a practical level, about the current treatment of household organic waste in the ACT.
The estimates report states that out of several waste stream priorities set for waste reduction, organic food waste is the number one priority within the residential waste stream. The ACT Greens have been very concerned about household organics and have been pushing the government to take action on this crucially important waste stream through the term of this Assembly and through previous terms, such as by my colleague Dr Deb Foskey. The government, unfortunately, is planning to build a dirty materials recovery facility as a solution to organic waste and this will separate organic waste from the household green kerbside bin, which represents about 50 per cent, by weight, of the material currently sent to landfill. As I mentioned earlier today with TAMS, this organic matter will be processed in a way that will make a low-grade compost. (Second speaking period taken.)
The Greens are opposed to the introduction of a dirty MRF. Instead we want to see, as I said earlier, an education program rolled out as recommended by the government’s own consultancy and called for by the motion that I moved earlier this year, which was supported by the Liberal Party, in terms of what we should do about organic waste. The government unfortunately has not introduced the education program, despite the fact the Hyder report recommended that this would be the most cost-effective option up to 2021. So I would say to the government: if we want to save Canberra money and conserve our environment we actually need to look seriously at waste. Look at what was recommended to the government and actually put some energy into this.
The ESD Directorate is vitally important to Canberra. Planning how our city develops is vitally important for Canberra. We have the benefit of being a planned city. We want to keep the benefits of that. It is also vital in that these benefits ensure that our city is well built. So it is ensuring that the regulations, which have been passed, are in fact implemented.
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