Mal Washer (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Environment and Heritage I present the committee’s interim report on its inquiry into a sustainability charter, Review of green office procurement audit—review of Audit report No. 22 2005-2006.

Ordered that the report be made a parliamentary paper.

This report is entitled Review of green office procurement audit. It is a review of Audit report No. 22 2005-2006, which reported on the Auditor-General’s Cross-portfolio audit of green office procurement practices in Australian government agencies.

The committee undertook this review as part of its inquiry into a national sustainability charter and is now tabling its conclusions as an interim report.

The committee recognises that the procurement activities of Australian government agencies can have a significant effect on the environment. Agencies’ buildings and vehicles consume energy resulting in greenhouse gas emissions. They produce waste that sits in landfills and they consume scarce resources.

It is crucial that the government does all it can to encourage and enable its agencies to tackle procurement in a manner that takes into account and minimises negative environmental impacts.

Audit report No. 22 2005-2006 was tabled in the House in February this year. The committee was deeply concerned by the Auditor-General’s findings of significant shortcomings in the green procurement performance of Australian government agencies, and the apparent lack of a clear policy framework to drive better outcomes in agencies’ purchasing activities.

Overall, agencies’ office building energy efficiencies met government expectations, but performance in government fleet vehicle emissions, reducing office waste and conserving water was variable and, in most cases, poor.

In particular, the ANAO identified gaps in the application of whole-of-life-cycle costing and in the management of the environmental impacts of procurement decisions.

This is occurring despite Australia’s 1992 National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) and despite section 516A of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, which requires Commonwealth agencies to report on their activities to support ESD principles.

It is clear to the committee that existing strategies and requirements are not getting the job done.

The committee was heartened to see that the Auditor-General was able to highlight a small number of success stories that can be used as a better practice guide to other agencies.

However, overall, the current piecemeal approach to green procurement hinders the development of a cohesive and coordinated approach to sustainable government practices.

In its Sustainable cities report tabled in September 2005, this committee highlighted the need for an overarching framework that provides for coordinated action to help drive Australia towards creating sustainable cities. The focus of the Sustainable cities report was of course much wider than green procurement. It examined a number of areas, including water, transport, energy, building design and planning.

Three key recommendations to come out of the Sustainable cities report were:

• to establish an Australian sustainability charter that sets key national targets;
• for all new relevant government policy proposals and actions to be assessed against charter objectives; and
• to establish an independent National Sustainability Commission tasked to monitor the extent to which Commonwealth funds promote the agreed sustainability targets.

The committee has not yet received a government response to its Sustainable cities report.

However, the committee felt that an issue of this magnitude demands urgent action. In March this year, it commenced its inquiry into developing a national sustainability charter. The charter should be aspirational and provide appropriate environmental targets for the Australian community.

The committee is inquiring into and will report on key elements of a sustainability charter, including the built environment, water, energy, transport and ecological footprints.

The committee has not made any recommendations in the interim report being tabled today. However, what has become clear to the committee during this review is the void that exists when it comes to national leadership on green procurement practices and indeed wider environmental performance issues.

Many of the shortcomings in current government environmental practice can be addressed within the context of developing and implementing a national sustainability charter.

Action is being taken on a variety of environmental issues around Australia. The committee has come across initiatives that are working and others that have great potential. The three levels of government, industry, NGOs and the community are passionate about a sustainable future for Australia.

What is lacking is an effective national framework to guide these efforts.

The Commonwealth government now has a real opportunity to take a leadership role at the national level to work in partnership with state and territory governments to establish a national charter and set key targets that have the potential to shape the behaviour of government agencies and the Australian community.

I commend this report to the House.

Jennie George (Throsby, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I take the opportunity today to make some further comments on the report Review of green office procurement audit, a report undertaken by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on the Environment and Heritage as part of its inquiry into establishing a national sustainability charter. The report covers the findings and recommendations made by the Australian National Audit Office in its cross-portfolio audit on the implementation, or at times lack thereof, of sustainable practices across 71 government agencies. That report was tabled in the House in February this year.

As the chair of the committee has indicated, the audit report identified a number of significant shortcomings. Half of the agencies, for example, did not have any environmental performance targets. Critical to this failure, in the view of the ANAO, was the slow implementation of environmental management systems. The report notes that performance in managing motor vehicle emissions, reducing or recycling general office waste and conserving water has been variable across the 71 agencies, and in the majority of cases in the findings the outcomes were poor. The audit identified an absence of specific requirements in waste management and water conservation and identified shortcomings in agencies meeting the government’s stated objective that these agencies should be at the forefront of environmental purchasing practices.

In all, the ANAO made 16 recommendations to improve performance in sustainable office practices. Its final recommendation to the department sought to strengthen the sustainability framework for Australian government operations. It recommends the department pursue a number of strategies to achieve best practice green office procurement in energy efficiency, water conservation, waste management and general practices by a suggested range of strategies such as updating or introducing targets and policies to reflect commitments in each area; developing a comprehensive website and communication strategy to achieve the targets; and, very importantly, better monitoring and reporting against performance targets and progress being made towards sustainability goals.

It was clear from the ANAO report that the current piecemeal approach of this government to green procurement is hindering the development of a practical and coordinated approach to sustainable procurement practices across the breadth of government agencies. The department, in response to these recommendations, does propose to develop a strategic framework for public sector environmental performance. No such framework currently exists.

The House of Representatives committee recognises that procurement activities of all levels of government can have a significant impact on environmental outcomes. It is crucial that governments at all levels encourage and require of their agencies procurement policies that take into account and minimise negative environmental impacts. The significant shortcomings identified by the Audit Office in its review of green office procurement highlight the need for comprehensive policy, targets and practical guidelines if government agencies themselves are to improve their environmental performance. The House of Representatives committee was chaired by my colleague Mal Washer, the member for Moore. The committee indicated quite clearly that many of the shortcomings that are identified in this report can and should be addressed within the context of our mission to develop a sustainability charter for Australia.

We are indeed indebted to the ANAO for its comprehensive audit. The committee was concerned by the findings of significant shortcomings in the green procurement performance of this government and its agencies and the lack of a clear policy framework to drive better outcomes in the future. We trust the Minister for the Environment and Heritage and his department will very speedily rectify these obvious shortcomings.

Ian Causley (Page, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for statements on this report has expired. Does the member for Moore wish to move a motion in connection with the report to enable it to be debated on a future occasion?

I move:

That the House take note of the report.

In accordance with standing order 39, the debate is adjourned. The resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.