Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

I thank the Minister and his officials for the considerable amount of work that has gone into this legislation. It contains much technical detail which is obviously of huge importance to many people, as Senator Bannon pointed out. The commitment of the Minister in this regard is not questioned. Certainly, his openness to good ideas is not in question either.

I certainly hope our position on control of the amount of waste we are producing and the manner in which we produce it is moving in a positive direction. We certainly are having problems. I hope the relationship between local authorities and the people they serve can be improved in that regard.