Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I read those out. They are just a snapshot of comments from my electorate to show the commitment in my electorate to doing more in this area and to show the requests that I get over and over again for the government to do more. Now, we are very proud in my electorate in Carrum Downs that we have the company Repeat Plastics Australia Pty Ltd, or Replas as we refer to it in my electorate. This business has a manufacturing base in Ballarat and the head office and some work in Carrum Downs. Replas takes plastic waste and turns it into seats, tables and all sorts of equipment to be used in the community. For example, the Belvedere Bowls Club put in an application to the Dunkley Stronger Communities fund, which I was pleased to support, to get new seats at the bowls club. Those bench seats were made by Replas with recycled material.

I was speaking to the company today and I asked what they need to continue to contribute to what must be said to be this fledgling circular economy in Australia. What they need is their product and products like theirs from other manufacturers to be promoted, because they can't recycle more waste unless people are buying their products. As they say to me, the local council is the first port of call for procurement, because they are the ones that are often putting in all of the local infrastructure, but it's something that the state and federal governments should be doing as well. This federal government needs to be looking, as part of its procurement policy, to not just procure from Australian manufacturers, but to build in requirements for recycling and recyclable materials. That will help this circular economy to grow. As I said, we are very proud to have Replas in the Carrum Downs industrial estate. This is the sort of smart, sustainable manufacturing that we are keen to build in my electorate of Dunkley. All we need is a government that's also committed to doing that.

Other countries have been tackling recycling and the circular economy for quite some time. Of course, in Australia it was the previous Labor government that introduced the first version of the legislation that we're debating today, but, sadly, we've seen seven years of neglect in this area. I hear one of the members on the other side laughing—a bit like when I laughed when he said that climate change should be a matter of science and not politics, because it was one of the most astounding things for someone on that side of the chamber to say. Welcome to the debate, but, honestly, with a straight face, it's unbelievable. Other countries haven't been wasting time like this government has. From Japan to Finland to the Netherlands, these countries have understood that recycling is one element of the bigger shift that we need in our economy and our society. We need to move towards a clean and circular economy. We need to do that for the economics of it, for the jobs of it and for the future of our environment.

Apart from when the Prime Minister wants to make announcements that make it seem as though they're doing something for the environment, we don't hear sustained debate and conversation from the other side of the chamber about the fundamental need for this shift in our economy and our society. This government has wasted seven years and hasn't forged a new clean and circular economy. It's one of the great wastes of our time, as well as the tearing down of climate change policy and the lack of a coherent and positive vision for the future. They've been left behind by everyone—every state in this country. The business councils, the unions, industry, countries around the world are all committed and signed up to net zero emissions by 2050, but not this government.

I'm newly appointed to the House of Representatives economics committee and I attended my first hearing on Friday. Our financial regulators understand the importance of dealing with climate change and climate change risk being taken into account in investments. Our key economic regulators get it and this government needs to get it and to do more. We haven't seen anything that would give us confidence that this government is going to move forward in a way that builds our economy, recovers from the recession and protects the environment. We hear the suggestion that it's one or the other, and we've heard that for so long now, but it's just wrong. We do not have to choose between economic growth and sustainable development, between jobs and the environment. They go hand in hand. There's an opportunity for us as well as a moral imperative. The challenge to lead our country and to once again be seen as a leader on the world stage through climate change, to mitigate its effects, is also an opportunity to build a clean, circular economy and to build a vibrant economy with new jobs at the same time, and we can do it.

Every single one of those school students who talked to every single one of their members of parliament about getting rid of single-use plastics, about recycling, believe we can do it. They want to do it and they want us to do it for them. It's beyond time that this government stops tinkering at the edges, getting expert reports and plucking out one recommendation but ignoring others and pretending it's doing something, re-announcing money to be spent on important projects but not delivering. It's time this government just rolled up its sleeves and did the young people of our country the credit of listening to them and delivering for them, because if we do that they are going to deliver for us in the future.

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