Page 84 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 27 November 2012
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MR CORBELL: I heard it. The government’s position in relation to matters of green waste is to focus on reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfill. At the moment we achieve a very high level of diversion of green, garden waste from landfill through the existing arrangements, existing arrangements that have supported local businesses like Corkhills, made sure that they employ many Canberrans, contribute to our economy and do so without any cost to taxpayers. We think that those arrangements should continue, because they are the most cost-efficient arrangements and efficient services without a burden on taxpayers. I thought that was what the Liberal Party campaigned on at the last election.
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Corbell, the question is about your policy.
MR CORBELL: Our policy is to focus on other forms of green waste that are currently not being diverted from landfill, in particular the organic food waste which currently ends up in the common, general collection rubbish bin of most Canberra households. There is an enormous amount of food waste, another form of organic waste, that is currently going to landfill. It is a major contributor to landfill and to the emissions that are generated from landfill. For that reason, the government’s focus is on putting in place policies such as a mixed waste residual recovery facility to separate that food waste from the general waste stream and to provide for it to be recycled.
We will divert tens of thousands of tonnes of food waste from the general waste stream, waste that is currently ending up in landfill, that can be usefully used for other purposes through recycling efforts. That is where the government’s policy sits. (Time expired.)
Government—directorates
MRS JONES: Madam Speaker, my question is to the Chief Minister. Chief Minister, on 12 November 2012 you announced a restructuring of the ACT government directorates which includes transferring aspects of the Treasury Directorate into the Chief Minister and Cabinet Directorate. Chief Minister, can you state now that no ACT public servant will lose their job or be given a redundancy as a result of these changes?
MS GALLAGHER: Yes, I can. The changes are already in place.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mrs Jones.
MRS JONES: Chief Minister, the last time there were administrative arrangement changes under the Hawke review millions of taxpayer funds were used to reshuffle public servants. Will this cost be incurred again?
MS GALLAGHER: No. This has affected just over 100 staff, I believe, and the changes are done without any significant cost impact at all. There will be some small costs associated, I imagine, with changing the directorate letterhead or things like that, but it will be very minimal and it will be done as cheaply as possible because it will have to be done in a budget neutral sense.
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