Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for the Republic) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] [inaudible] over substance. Why you'd want to move a motion in an area where you've had abject failure is beyond me, and that is exactly what has occurred with this Morrison government and improving recycling in Australia. They have been a massive failure.

In the wake of other nations' decisions to stop accepting Australia's recycled material, I had a meeting with a recycling officer at a local council in the area that I represent. I asked that officer where most of the material that we put into our yellow recycling bins is now going if China, Indonesia and other nations are no longer accepting our recycling material. The answer horrified me. The council officer said that most of it just goes into landfill. When the Australian people go out of their way to sort their recycled materials—to put them into the yellow recycling bins, which are accepted and picked up on a separate basis to our other waste—they expect that that material is actually going to be recycled. But unfortunately in Australia under the Morrison government the majority of that material now goes into landfill. That is an absolute disgrace.

Only 18 per cent of plastic in packaging is recycled. That's well short of the target of 70 per cent by 2025 by this government, and recycled content and plastic packaging is only around four per cent, with the 20 per cent target to be reached by 2025 again being missed.

We know that for eight long years the coalition government has done virtually nothing when it comes to waste and recycling. It's a shame that it took a ban on imports from China and Indonesia and other key nations for Australia to finally do something under the Morrison government. Again, it's a recurring theme under this government—always reacting, never leading.

The Australian community in our waste and resource management sector have been crying out for a national program of reforms that would not only reduce landfill and plastic pollution but increase the rate of recycling. In order to improve Australia's poor rate of recycling when it comes to environmentally harmful materials like plastic, it's vital that we dramatically improve our local processing and manufacturing capacity. But that will only be viable if there are end markets for the materials.

In addition to supporting procurement policies there needs to be greater product producer responsibility when it comes to product design and the incorporation of recycled content. But this government, the Morrison government, has shown it's incapable of developing policies that actually encourage recycling and lead to the creation of new companies and opportunities for industries to grow. Where's the leadership on that in Australia?

We know that the export ban of mixed plastic that was in place from 1 July is in disarray. The industry itself has confirmed that Australia is not ready to reprocess additional plastics from the 1 July date. As a result, where does it end up? In landfill. There are more plastics going into landfill. And, despite the Morrison government being warned by its own commission report that stockpiling landfill of mixed plastic, as a result of its reforms, was not a low risk, the only response from the minister for the environment is to blame the sector, the states and territories and local government. Again, it's a familiar theme of this government—they don't take responsibility for anything—'I don't hold a hose, mate.'

Information provided by a recent Senate inquiry into hazardous waste shows that the government was put on notice of the risk more than a decade ago, and we know that the Recycling Modernisation Fund has only spent around two per cent of its $190 million and so far only $4.5 million has been spent on the relevant waste processing projects. That follows a failure of the $100 million Australian Recycling Investment Fund that was announced in May 2019, which has not spent or advanced a single dollar. That says everything about this government's failure when it comes to recycling—the principal investment fund that they set up to encourage recycling in Australia hasn't spent a single dollar, because this government has failed. When the Australian people are asking themselves, 'What's the point of those yellow bins anymore?', they should be asking, 'What's the point of the Morrison government?'

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