Page 2084 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 5 June 2019
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I think we can all agree that minimisation of waste is vital. It is absolutely important for our community. The Canberra Liberals have long supported sustainable practices for waste management. I will quote from a document from 1996, a message from the Minister for Urban Services. It said:
Problems associated with the generation and disposal of waste are issues of increasing importance to the community. Energy and resources are being wasted while tips are filling quickly.
The ACT Government is committed to achieving sustainable practices for the management of our wastes.
This Waste Management Strategy for Canberra has been developed through an extensive community consultation process. The strategy sets the vision of how we can become a waste free society by 2010 and outlines the future direction for waste management whereby we will be turning our wastes into resources.
We are the first Government anywhere to embrace such a bold target—of becoming a waste free society. This will be a most rewarding challenge for our community to adopt and I commend this strategy for its vision.
Tony De Domenico MLA
Minister for Urban Services
These words remain as true today as they were in 1996. But this government is the one that stepped away from that strategy of no waste by 2010.
I cannot help feeling that this motion is a bit of a stunt from Ms Le Couteur, a bit of a media opportunity or a bit of an appeal to the green base to try to counteract their continued and continual sharing of the government and government policies, because, as we have seen from yesterday’s budget and from the minister’s speech this morning, this is already in the budget. Page 130 of budget paper No 3, to be exact, says:
The government will … commence planning for Canberra’s future waste infrastructure needs and undertake early planning for a food organics and garden organics (FOGO) waste service.
Imagine my shock, Madam Speaker. The day before a crossbench motion calling on the government to investigate the possibility of a food organics waste processing service, the government announces a budget commitment for that very purpose.
We have three options here, three ways to look at this remarkable coincidence. The first is that the government, having seen Ms Le Couteur’s motion, maybe on Monday afternoon, decided it was a great idea and decided to whack it into the budget at the very last minute. I do not think that is particularly likely. The second option is that the government, completely independent of the Greens crossbench, have decided to support a new separate food organics waste service. Ms Le Couteur, completely independently, with no consultation or discussion with the government, had the exact same idea at the exact same time and put this motion forward today as a complete
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