Thank you Chair.
I rise to speak in support of Item E – the amendments to the City Laws, particularly in relation to littering in our suburbs with advertising materials and community newspapers.
As I indicated in this Chamber before these amendments were put out for consultation, for reasons I don’t really understand, littering is a bigger problem in my Ward than it should be.
These amendments go a long way to addressing the issue.
Hopefully the days of advertising materials and community newspapers being strewn over our footpaths will soon be a thing of the past.
These amendments are about eliminating eyesores such as this.
Chair as you know, we are now an Olympic city and as such, the eyes of the world are upon us, more than they have ever been. How we are being perceived is important for our long-term economic and tourism opportunities.
Collectively, we need to take pride in how our city looks and as an administration, take action where necessary as we have done here against offending litterers to ensure Brisbane is a cleaner city.
The onus will now be on the producers and distributors of these materials to show the same pride in our community and respect the wishes of the majority of our residents.
The amendment to the City Laws stipulates that distributors are required to either place their material in letterboxes or within the property boundary.
My hope is they will place their materials in letterboxes rather than take the easy “hurl and hope” option.
Chair, I will be keeping on watching brief on how these amendments will work.
A good start will be a reduction in the number of complaints about littering to my Ward office each month.
I hope this will be the case, and I urge the Chamber to join me in supporting Item E to ensure the Brisbane of tomorrow is even better than the Brisbane of today.
Thank you.