Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to talk about an issue my electorate which I am sure is being felt right across Australia due to the extensive flooding throughout Australia over the summer. Believe it or not, the problem is still occurring in my electorate, even though we have not had a lot of rainfall in Western Australia. It is a mosquito problem, particularly in four suburbs of my electorate: Belmont, Ascot, Waterford and Ferndale. The high tides in the Swan River are causing the baits that have been set down under the auspices of the Swan River Trust to drift away and disappear. The lack of baits in Australia—because of the requirement for baits all around Australia after the flooding, particularly in the eastern states—is not helping the issue.

On Monday I had a call from a constituent—a person who is dear to the hearts of a lot of people in this place—who was very concerned about this issue. I see some of the new members on the government benches are in here; they would not have had the pleasure of meeting or dealing with this person: Wilson Tuckey. Wilson made it quite plain to me that this is a real issue and something that needs to be dealt with—

Geoff Lyons (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Bring him back!

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You’ve missed out; you should have been here! We need to get the councils in my electorate to band together and let the Swan River Trust know that fogging needs to be done. It is a health issue, and fogging needs to be done now, not in four weeks time. (Time expired)