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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-03-03 Daily Xml
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WASTE COLLECTION

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:03): I have a supplementary question, Mr President. Does the minister acknowledge that fortnightly collection may, in fact, result in a substantially increased health risk to the population?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister Assisting the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Energy) (15:03): That is not a matter for me. I am not a health expert. The health matters of garbage—the life of garbage, the detrimental effects on the community and whether there are risks in terms of disease or rodents—is completely outside my expertise. I point out, however, that these matters are for trial so, if the community is finding that there are issues of concern, they should be fed back into the trial and taken up.

The Hon. R.I. Lucas interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Lucas will come to order. Has the minister finished?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: I can only emphasise that this is a trial and if the community are not happy with it or have issues of concern about the current collection rates then what they should do is raise those matters—which they have done. I think that is a good thing. The collection rates and the trial itself should then be amended accordingly. It is not for me to set policy for waste collection in an area that is clearly outside my portfolio responsibility. That is outrageous.

As I said, it is a trial, and if people have concerns in terms of health or odour—or any concerns—they have the right (which I encourage) to feed that back to their local council so that those matters can be considered, no doubt carefully by that council, and their concerns accommodated.

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