David Hawker (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am delighted to support my good friend and colleague the honourable member for Maranoa in this motion. I think this motion is timely, I think it is very important and I think it is one that recognises a real issue that has to be dealt with. While I welcome the comments of the member for Throsby with what I would call in-principle support, I feel that we could probably go further and we could start to push this particular issue without having to wait for some of the other points which she raised, which I am sure are very valid. This issue is a clear-cut one that can be dealt with fairly quickly.

Getting back to the motion: it talks about the importance of committing, by 2012, to ban the use of plastic and glass bottles in landfill; about providing a cash refund for glass and plastic bottles; about reimbursement to grocery and convenience stores that provide collection sites for empty bottles, which is the Finnish example, as the member for Maranoa pointed out; and about how the federal government can cooperate with local government bodies to ensure that people in the country can participate. I know from personal experience that it is easy to have a centralised depot when you have a high volume of these things, but often regional areas, particularly some of the less populated areas, present certain challenges in this regard.

Clearly, the recycling situation in South Australia has worked. It is timely that South Australia has moved—as the member for Barker, who is sitting in the chair at the moment, knows only too well—from a 5c deposit to a 10c deposit. In my family’s experience in days gone by, when our boys were younger and we were holidaying in the electorate of Barker, one of the great ways to get the children out and earning some pocket money was for them to collect bottles and take them down to the recycling depot. It worked but, more importantly, it engendered an experience to think about as they go through life: the importance of recycling. South Australia has been nation-leading and I think it is something that should continue. My colleague here the member for Grey tells me that a friend of his bought a bottle of Perrier water in St Petersburg and on the label was ‘5c deposit if in South Australia’. South Australia has had a lot of influence. I think we can start to move much faster nationally than by waiting for some sort of a review.

Not so long ago I had the pleasure of opening VicWest Recyclers, a new facility in Stawell. The work that this group are doing in recycling is quite remarkable. To see this in action, to see the way that the local community have supported it and the awareness it has led to in terms of the importance of recycling, is quite remarkable. Since VicWest Recyclers set up in Stawell, over 80 per cent of the community are involved in recycling. It shows that you can engender an attitude change. That is why this motion is so important.

The member for Maranoa talked about the situation in Finland; they have a bottle return rate of 98 per cent. We really have a long way to go. I think that is why this motion is so important. It is timely and it needs to be acted upon, and I would certainly commend it to all honourable members. I would hope that the honourable member for Throsby would, following discussion of the motion brought up by the member for Maranoa, impress upon her colleagues on the front bench the need to move a bit faster. We really should move more quickly. I have great pleasure in supporting the motion.

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