Page 4147 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 22 October 2019
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Dumping of illegal substances under the Dangerous Substances Act 2004 carries penalties of up to $200,000 for individuals and/or $1 million for businesses and/or seven years imprisonment and the possibility of other penalties. In some ways, you could argue that the laws are already clear and tough. The real question is: how active has the government been in implementing those laws?
The answer to a question asked on 16 August this year stated that while we do not have any information prior to 2017, we know that in respect of littering there was one warning in 2017 and no infringements or charges. There were four warnings in 2018 and no infringements or charges. There were three warnings in 2019 and no infringements or charges.
On dumping in 2017, there were zero warnings, zero infringements, zero charges. In 2018, there were zero warnings, two infringements and zero charges. In 2019, there were 13 warnings, 11 infringements and zero charges. Increasing penalties for littering is something that we agree with. But as you can see from these figures, Mr Assistant Speaker, enforcement—having people available to issue warnings and infringements and to charge people—is just as important, if not more important.
In the absence of acting on the current laws, let alone the laws that will be enacted or passed from today, it is a way to make it look like you are concerned about an issue without actually doing anything about it. The government tells us what we already know, that is, that littering and dumping are bad. They are bad for the environment; they are bad for our society; they are bad for health. Littering and dumping are bad in absolutely every way.
Littering and dumping range from dropping food wrappers and receipts, to more dangerous items like syringes, household goods, cigarette butts, throwing things out of car windows, right through to items on private property escaping on to public land and the dumping of large volumes of waste in remote locations. These are bad. There is no argument about that.
We know that littering and illegal dumping are an increasing problem in the ACT. That has ongoing social, economic and environmental consequences. They can degrade the amenity of a place, thus reducing its value to the community. Littering and dumping mean that waste can also end up in nature reserves and waterways, which can cause harm to people and animals as well as to the broader environment.
It is a significant economic cost to the government and the community—in other words, to the taxpayer or to the ratepayer—in terms of cleaning up and disposing of litter and illegally dumped items. This bill we are debating today is intended to protect and enhance the natural and built environment, as well as the amenity and wellbeing of residents in the ACT, and to reduce the economic and health impacts of littering and illegal dumping in all its forms.
I do not propose to go through every item in the government bill today, except to highlight a couple of issues. We support the government’s position to set up an escalating framework to deal with litter on a private site, including the hoarding of
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