Page 1620 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 10 May 2017

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I am going to propose, and I will not be able to do it because I have now spoken but I am sure Ms Cody will do it, that we adjourn this debate and find a way to sift through this, because I do not know why Minister Gentleman sought to remove that text. I have not had a chance to think about this particular amendment. I think we can find a way through this a little later today or perhaps even find a way to bring it back on in the morning, briefly, to resolve the matter tomorrow, if that is an acceptable way forward for colleagues in Minister Gentleman’s absence.

MRS JONES (Murrumbidgee) (6.07): I do not think what is being asked here is terribly onerous or difficult to add back in to what we have asked. We have agreed to the gist of the minister’s changes but the heart of the reason for this motion in the first place is that changes have been made that even firefighters are not happy with. All I am asking for is an historic account of the rationale for why the changes were made, looking at it through today’s eyes.

I do not think this will unseat the minister. I do not think it will make it impossible for him to do his job if we add this. It is not a very weird request. It is simply about explaining the 2011 changes that really changed who takes initial control of fires in the BAZ. If we have to come back to it tomorrow, fine, so long as we actually do.

Of course the minister wants to have control of what happens in his area but I do not think that this would make him lose a great deal of sleep. But it certainly is making firefighters lose an element of sleep because they are concerned that the rationale behind these changes was not properly thought through.

At this point if it were possible to deal with it today I would like that to occur, unless there is a very clear mechanism for it to come back and be dealt with first thing in the morning or something like that. And I would like to hear what that is.

Debate (on motion by Ms Cody) adjourned to the next sitting.

Household waste management

MR STEEL (Murrumbidgee) (6.09): I move:

That this Assembly:

(1) notes:

(a) that, as outlined in the ACT Waste Management Strategy 2011-2025, the ACT Government has a commitment to progressing towards zero recoverable waste sent to landfill;

(b) that in May 2016, ACT Labor made a commitment to provide all Canberran households with a green bin for garden waste by 2020; and

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