Page 538 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 19 February 2020
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waste service, the government’s new free kerbside bulky waste collection service for Gungahlin and Tuggeranong will provide residents with another convenient way of disposing of bulky waste like old furniture and appliances. These initiatives deliver on our government’s commitments to reduce the environmental impacts of waste, and we will continue to make it easier for Canberrans to be environmentally responsible.
While the government has dedicated resources and powers to reduce the amount of waste and litter across the city, it is important that all of us take care of our environment. During my time as a representative of Yerrabi in this place, I have partnered with the community in hosting clean-up events across our electorate. With the help of local residents and community groups, including Friends of Grasslands, Giralang Pond Landcare Group and Trash Mob, we help take care of the waterways and natural areas in Bonner, Franklin, Kaleen, Giralang, Harrison and Moncrieff. By taking this local action and caring for our environment, we have done our bit for our local areas. All members in this place have the capacity to partner with their communities and hold clean-ups if areas within their electorates need a bit of attention. Members and our constituents can also report suspected illegal dumping or areas that are polluted to the government through fix my street or the Access Canberra call centre.
As both Minister Steel and I have outlined, there are a range of ways that we can all do our bit to prevent illegal dumping and litter in our community. Our government will continue to monitor the issue of illegal dumping across the ACT. I commend Mr Steel’s amendment to the Assembly.
MR MILLIGAN (Yerrabi) (5.18): I would like to thank all members for their contribution today. I know this is an important issue that everyone is passionate about. We may have mixed views, but in many ways it just comes down to our approach. Our approach as Liberals is to encourage personal responsibility: not to look to overregulate the daily lives of Canberrans but to look to real, sensible solutions. We want to use commonsense strategies to deter people from doing the wrong thing, and then to give rangers the resourcing and authority they need to enforce the existing legal framework. The rules are there; the fines are there. What is lacking is the follow-through.
I would like to thank my colleague Ms Lawder for her contribution. Ms Lawder understands these issues better than most, having campaigned hard on compliance issues and urban services for years. Her policy of twice-yearly kerbside collection was well considered and aimed at providing a flexible solution. I hope that together we will get to implement that solution for the benefit of Canberrans. And that is not to mention her tireless work on dangerous dogs and trying to resource our city rangers to tackle that problem head on.
I would like to thank Mr Rattenbury for his contribution today. I know the issue is one that he would like to see the government do more on. I would like to acknowledge and reiterate that he sees that there is real importance in providing an education program and a simpler reporting process for reporting illegal dumping, and also the need to support local businesses focused on recycling unwanted items.
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