Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1989 was introduced by the Hawke government to implement the provisions of our obligations under the Basel convention of March 1989 by regulating the export, import and transit of hazardous waste. The act is in place to make sure that hazardous waste is disposed of safely so that people and the environment, both within and outside Australia, are protected from the harmful effects of the waste. Labor believe in action on environmental protection, in particular with respect to hazardous waste and e-waste. We established the Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act and we also established the Product Stewardship Act in 2011.

It is important that we manage our electronic waste in a way that protects human health and the environment. People, when they think of pollution, often do not think of the extraordinarily dangerous chemicals that can leach into the soil from something as simple as a television set being improperly disposed of. TVs and computers, actually, were the first products regulated under the Product Stewardship Act in work led—though I was minister—by Senator Don Farrell as my parliamentary secretary at the time. The legislation helps to reduce hazardous substances going into landfill, avoid and reduce waste, and increase recycling and resource recovery. Each time you go to your local tip now you will see, as a result of those changes, the special section that is there for those sorts of electronic products.

The amendment bill that is before the House will allow for full cost recovery for activities that require a permit under the act and aims to make administrative efficiencies and improvements to reduce the regulatory burden on businesses. The bill also introduces a levy, which is payable on permit applications and would allow for the recovery of the indirect costs of administering the permit system. This is a good levy. This is a good cost-recovery system. Had we introduced it, we would have heard the other side saying that this part of it was 'green tape' and we would have heard that it was a dreadful impost on business. Now, faced with the reality of this in government, they are implementing the exact same thing.

The amendment bill and the levy bill will bring the hazardous waste permit scheme in line with requirements and commitments for cost recovery that were put in place during the term of the previous Labor government. The bills mean that the permit system for hazardous waste will continue for waste that is exported from Australia or imported into Australia or that transits Australia. The scheme uses a system where permits are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the requirements of the act. Assessment would take into account issues such as the current domestic capacity to treat the waste, and environmentally sound and sensitive management of the waste in the importing country compared to what is available in Australia.

It is important that any movement of hazardous waste is carefully assessed and all options considered. This may not be an issue that is as high-profile as other environmental challenges that we deal with but it is critically important for the environment and human health. It is also an area of the portfolio where departmental officers have always taken a very strong leadership position in dealing with the states and with industry. A number of those officials are present in the chamber, and I certainly commend them for their work. I acknowledge that we in the chamber making the speeches deal with the end product of an extraordinarily long process that officials work very hard on, and in this area in particular they have to deal with a very high level of technical detail. Labor supports the bill, and I commend the officials for their work.

Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to rise for the first time in this new year to speak on the Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Amendment Bill 2016 together with the Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Levy Bill 2016.

The Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Amendment Bill regulates the export, import and transit of hazardous waste to ensure that it is managed in an environmentally sound manner to minimise its harmful effects on humans and the environment. The act implements Australia's obligations under the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes, an international treaty set up to control the movement of hazardous waste from one country to another and its disposal. The Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Amendment Bill and the Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Levy Bill will allow for full cost recovery for permitting activities under the act. The bills will also make administrative amendments to reduce the complexity of the act and the regulatory burden on business. Consequential amendments will also be made to the act.

It is very important that we put these cost-recovery methods in place. I think every one of us, at the outset of this parliament and the outset of this new year, should commit to doing everything that we possibly can to get our budget firstly into balance and then into surplus to slowly pay down the debt. Very soon the decisions made in this chamber will have resulted in this country having half a trillion dollars in national debt—$500 billion! What that means is that every single month we must divert more than a billion dollars just to pay the interest bill. That is a billion dollars diverted from our schools, hospitals, roads, our kids with disabilities—all the things in our electorates that make us see how desperate we are for every single cent that we can get. We owe it to future generations of Australians to ensure that we do not make decisions in this parliament that add to the deficit and debt. This bill goes a small way to doing that. We are lifting the cap that was previously set at $8,000 for an import or an export of a piece of hazardous waste, to ensure that there is full cost recovery. I commend this bill to the House, but I ask my friends on the other side of the chamber: this year let us ensure we do every single thing that we can to reduce that deficit and to bring our budget back to surplus, because we owe it to future generations of Australians. I commend the bill to the House.

Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am here today representing the Minister for the Environment and Energy in summing up this bill, the Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Amendment Bill 2016. I would like to thank all the members for the contributions that they have made on this bill.

The amendment bill introduces a modest set of administrative reforms that will deliver more effective and efficient regulation of hazardous waste movements while ensuring that Australia's high standards of human and environmental protection continue to be met. The amendment and levy bills also introduce cost recovery measures that allow the government to recover its costs of administering the system and the permitting scheme under the hazardous waste act.

The permit scheme implements Australia's international obligations under the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal—quite a mouthful! The scheme regulates exports, imports and transits of hazardous waste out of, into and through Australia to ensure the waste is dealt with appropriately. Controlling hazardous waste movements through the permit scheme is vital to protecting people and the environment from the harmful effects of exposure to these hazardous materials and waste.

The efficiency reforms introduced by the amendment bill focus on removing duplicative and unnecessary permit processes, thereby reducing delays and cost to business and government. The reforms have been designed to streamline the hazardous waste act while maintaining the high standard of human and environmental protection that the act provides.

The cost recovery reforms—which the member for Hughes referred to—introduced by the amendment and levy bills aim to ensure the full recovery of the cost of administering the hazardous waste act permitting scheme. Currently the government only recovers approximately 30 per cent of these costs. The cost recovery amendments will allow permit application fees to be raised and indexed annually to cover the direct costs of processing permit applications. The amendments will also impose a levy on all permit applications, which will also be indexed annually, and this will cover the indirect costs of administering the permitting scheme.

The cost recovery reforms will ensure that those who require the government's permitting services, because they move hazardous waste, are the ones who pay for the permitting scheme's administration, rather than the Australian community, which up until now have been left with 70 per cent of the bill. The reforms may also help discourage the generation of hazardous waste and encourage the establishment of domestic facilities to deal with this waste.

In closing: together, the amendment and levy bills introduce efficiency and cost recovery reforms that represent an important step in the modernisation of the hazardous waste act and its permitting scheme. With these reforms, Australia will be able to comply more easily with its international obligations to ensure the sound management of hazardous waste. Industry will be relieved of unnecessary regulatory burden and delays and will retain certainty about its responsibilities and liabilities under the permitting scheme. Most importantly, the government will continue to fulfil its duty to protect people and the environment from hazardous waste.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.