Wednesday 27th May 2020
Response by Hon. Lenora Qereqeretabua to the Ministerial Statement by Agriculture Minister regarding the Protection & Enhancement of our Biodiversity.
PLEASE CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY
I thank the Hon Minister for his statement.
I am always quite astounded by the fluff that we hear around the need to protect nature. I am quite certain citizens of Nasinu whose IMMEDIATE biodiversity surrounding their homes due to unchecked litter would also have many things to say!
Hon Speaker, how many MICRONS does Fiji's biodiversity possess? That many sound like a stupid question but I do want to go back to the month of January when this Government plunged the whole nation into chaos with their knee-jerk taxation on plastic bags based on its thickness.
It seems a little disingenuous that the Hon Minister is talking UP biodiversity when our oceans, land and air are still TEEMING with plastic pollution. The peoples pockets may be MUCH lighter from increased plastic bag charges, but it has had minimal impact on the supply of plastic packaging in the country!
Lets start the biodiversity HYPE from there Mr Speaker. All these grand ideas being proposed today need a huge doze of reality, and a major injection of consultation.
We have had enough BUBBLE and BOOM TALK already.