Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Industry, Innovation, Science and Resources, I present the committee's report, entitled From rubbish to resources: Building a circular economy, together with the minutes of the proceedings.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—Nothing in life is absolute garbage, or very little in life is absolute garbage—

An honourable member interjecting—

Oh God, it was a good line while it lasted! We're governed by the universal law of the conservation of energy and mass. You can't destroy anything. You can change its form but you can't destroy it. What that means, of course, is that you can change it to a form that's useful or you can change it to a form that's actually toxic. What our committee has done is investigated this process and come forward with resolutions and propositions to assist our nation to do its part in making sure we have a cleaner world and a more efficient and effective world. When you think about your day and examine your day, examine how much of that stuff and what you do is utilised once only. Think of the waste of that resource and what that actually entails. How much of a production of an economy goes towards just a single use? Surely it would be better for all of us if it had multiple uses.

In our committee we covered a whole range of issues. We started from nuclear, which, to be quite frank, is incredibly efficient in the proportion of waste material it has. It is incredibly efficient. It's something our nation should really turn its mind to and take up the cudgels for and use. We looked at issues that are unresolvable and not retractable, such as the Mount Morgan Mine. I don't know how we deal with the waste that's come from that mining activity. I think it's going to be with us to the end of days. We looked at areas where there's an effective path, such as Veolia, who are recycling and using waste from Sydney for everything from recycling to fertiliser to methane for power.

I'd like to thank the member for Cunningham for her great assistance. I think we had a very effective committee. I'd like to also acknowledge other members of the committee such as the member for Cowper, the member for Moreton, the member for Paterson, the member for Wentworth and the member for Higgins. I'm sure I've left some out there. Madam Deputy Chair will no doubt remind me of the ones I forgot. I believe we had a very effective committee and we did a good job. I'd also like to very much thank the work of the secretariat, who make us all look so much more professional than we sometimes deserve to be! I hope that people have time to go over this. I hope the recommendations are considered. I believe that we've delivered something of worth to the parliament and of worth to the process. Hopefully, if endorsed, it makes our nation just a slightly better place than it was before the report.

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