Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Nick Xenophon Team) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) plastic bags are detrimental to the environment;

(b) Australians use an estimated 5 billion plastic bags a year, which represents over 20 million bags used every day;

(c) research has indicated that as of 2013, approximately 5 trillion pieces of plastic have been floating in our world's oceans—these are mostly microplastics of less than 5 millimetres in size and are regularly eaten by marine life, through which they enter the global food chain and are consumed by humans;

(d) thousands of marine mammals and seabirds die every year around the world as a result of plastic litter;

(e) plastic bags are particularly bad for the environment because they take from between 20 and 1,000 years to biodegrade and can travel long distances via air and water;

(f) South Australia led the nation with the phasing out of lightweight non-biodegradable plastic shopping bags, which state legislation defines as a carry bag, the body of which comprises (in whole or in part) polyethylene with a thickness of less than 35 microns and includes handles;

(g) South Australia's ban on plastic shopping bags came into force on 4 May 2009; and

(h) the South Australian Environmental Protection Authority estimates that the state's ban on plastic shopping bags has resulted in almost 400 million fewer plastic bags in that state each year; and

(2) calls on the:

(a) state governments yet to enact a ban on lightweight non-biodegradable plastic shopping bags to do so with speed and urgency; and

(b) Australian Government to work with the state Governments to implement a national ban on lightweight non-biodegradable plastic shopping bags by the end of 2018.

Last year, students from Kangaroo Island Community Education, in my electorate, shared their research with me about the impact we humans have on the environment. The year 4 and 5 students were so passionate about the environment that they started several local environmental initiatives, including a clean-up at the local beach and a soft-plastics bin in their schoolyard. In Australian classrooms, our children are taught how human activity is contributing to the deterioration of our environment. In our own households, so often it is our children who are leading the way by encouraging their families to make more environmentally friendly choices.

The class I visited also investigated and reported on a number of different environmental schemes, including the importance of a national plastic bag ban across Australia. The class explored the issue further than the ban, identifying what they could do in their own households to reduce waste and correctly recycle soft plastics. It's so important that we get rid of soft plastics because all of our marine life seem to see them as jellyfish, and we are killing our marine animals. I want to sincerely thank the students of Kangaroo Island Community Education; their infectious enthusiasm encouraged me to put forward this important motion.

South Australia was the first state, in 2009, to introduce a widespread ban on single-use plastic shopping bags. On average, these lightweight single-use bags are only used for a total of 12 minutes. Scientific research cited by the World Economic Forum indicates that, as of 2013, approximately 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic are floating in the world's oceans. The forum has predicted that this number will rise to a phenomenal 250 trillion tonnes in 2025. EcoWatch now estimate that 40 per cent of the world's ocean surface contains plastic debris. Each single-use plastic bag takes between 20 and 1,000 years to biodegrade. Because of their lightweight nature they are also prone to travelling long distances via air and water. These non-biodegradable plastic bags are killing thousands of marine animals every year and are causing irreversible damage to our marine ecosystems.

A 2011 review by researchers at the University of South Australia on the South Australian ban found that approximately 80 per cent of the community supported the ban on plastic bags in my state and that twice as many households now regularly carry their own reusable bags to the shops compared to before the ban came into effect. Another key conclusion of the 2011 review was that consideration should be given to extend the ban to cover other types of plastics, especially those that are thicker and heavier.

I'm encouraged by the states and territories which have already implemented this ban, including the ACT, the Northern Territory and Tasmania. I note that Queensland and Western Australia have committed to banning the bag this year. Banning plastic bags is not a new phenomenon. Single-use plastic bags have been banned nationally in several countries around the world, including Morocco, Italy and Belgium, and many other nations have localised or partial bans, such as Canada, the United States, Brazil and Botswana.

Last year, I wrote to both the New South Wales and Victorian premiers, urging them to join the rest of the country in banning the plastic bag. A plastic bag ban is not a difficult policy, because they can simply look at what South Australia has done and adopt our comprehensive policies on this. We have essentially blazed the trail for Victoria and New South Wales. I was encouraged by the comments from the Victorian environment minister to reduce the impact of plastic bags in Victoria. I understand that the Victorian parliament has now made a commitment to ban the plastic bag and is currently undertaking a consultation process. However, I must say that I was incredibly disappointed with the New South Wales Premier's response to me. She welcomed the leadership of Woolworths, Coles and Harris Farm Markets to phase out single-use plastic bags but was then pointedly silent about committing to any such leadership herself. I would urge the Premier of New South Wales to consult with her community. This can be done, and it is the most populous state in our nation.

Reusable and biodegradable bags have been around for some time and are affordable alternatives. A ban on lightweight single-use plastic bags provides a clear incentive for people to use materials kinder to our environment. Implementing a single-use plastic bag ban in every state and territory sends a strong, consistent message that all Australians will make small changes. We are an island nation. We are surrounded by water and we must do better to take care of our marine environment. I strongly support those states and territories who already have their bans on bags or are in the process of heading towards that, and again I strongly encourage the New South Wales government to take a leadership role in this. It can be done. For nine years in South Australia we have had a plastic bag ban, and it's about time that our most populous state join the team.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for the motion?

Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just recently a young Manly West local, Nicola, wrote to me with a very upsetting story. She was out for a run on the local foreshore when she came across a dead hawksbill sea turtle. The turtle had died after eating a plastic bag. This is a common death for many turtles these days, and it's a horrible one. The awful thing is that this turtle was just one of the many dead marine animals she has seen since she moved into the area only seven months ago. According to UNESCO, plastic debris kills over a million sea birds and over 100,000 marine animals every year. Meanwhile, according to Keep Australia Beautiful data, there has been an increase in litter around the bayside area.

Clearly, something needs to be done. It heartens me to know that so many locals use their own time to go along the waterfront and pick up rubbish left behind by others. Local volunteer groups do regular litter clean-ups in the area. One constituent tells me that he fills up bags of rubbish during daily walks, but when he returns the next day it has all returned. As Keep Australia Beautiful's CEO, David Curtin, said to me: 'If all we ever do is pick up after litterbugs, we will always be cleaning up. Education is the key.'

There are already some fantastic education programs in place in my electorate. The Moreton Bay Discovery Centre is a great educational resource for the community. I was happy to secure $400,000 for the centre's construction and fit-out. The centre is an important tourism hub that will teach locals and visitors to the area how to keep Moreton Bay healthy for local marine life. It will also run a Moreton Bay discovery children's program when it opens. This is a great way to teach children the importance of protecting the bay. Another great initiative in Bonner is the renowned Tangalooma EcoMarines program, which includes an early learning centre program for preschool children.

This government supports moves by a number of states, including Queensland from 1 July, to phase out single-use plastic bags. We also welcome industry moves to do the same. Coles and Woolworths have announced that they will no longer be using single-use plastic bags by the end of 2018. At the Manly Harbour Village markets in my electorate, stall holders have reusable fabric shopping bags available for customers. The Manly Harbour Village Chamber of Commerce is also in discussions with the village traders about using fabric shopping bags.

The Minister for the Environment and Energy has said it's inevitable that Australia will be free of single-use plastic bags over time. Until then, I intend to do my part. I will be launching a 'clean up the bay' initiative and working alongside local environment groups to keep the bayside beautiful and rubbish-free for marine life. I have plans to get as many locals involved as possible. Together we can clean up and teach others to be inspired to do the same.

Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In my speech today I would like to thank the member for Mayo and the member for Bonner on their really important initiative that we've brought to this House and to thank the member for Mayo for the work that she does for her communities, particularly with schools, listening to what they say and then bringing these topics to parliament. I'd also like to acknowledge the work done by the government of Victoria and the many individuals and community groups in my electorate who are taking a lead in this area through the Boomerang Bags movement.

I say to the Victorian government, thank you for your work. It's acknowledged and appreciated. In October 2017, the Labor government committed to banning single-use, lightweight plastic bags. They invited input from all Victorians on how to design a ban that's fair, effective and lasting. I do like it when our Victorian government consults with the community on such an important topic. The survey closed on 29 January, and we're expecting the results to be collated and analysed by early March. We look forward to that information.

Today I'd like to talk in particular about the many, many groups in my electorate and the work they're doing on not only understanding about plastic bags but also recycling, including the Boomerang Bags movement. Deputy Speaker Claydon, I'm not sure if you're familiar with the Boomerang Bags movement, but co-founders Tania Potts and Jordyn de Boer up in Burleigh Heads got the idea happening. Now, thanks to amazing supporters all around the country, community groups and individuals are coming together and making bags. To do a bit of a call out for my electorate, in Alexandra, down in the south end of my electorate in the Goulburn Valley, between 300 and 400 bags have been sewn and distributed. In Bright, the P-12 secondary college has taken the lead. In Beechworth, between 3,500 and 5,000 bags were distributed in 2017. In Benalla, 80 bags have been made. In the Kiewa Valley, which is a small rural dairy community, 50 bags have been made. Down in the Kinglake area, a thousand bags have been sewn, with an aim of 3,000 to reach their ultimate goal of zero plastic bags in Kinglake. In Mansfield, the CWA—Country Women's Association—has joined up with the Up2Us Landcare group, and they've made 150 bags, which have been given out right around the community. In Moyhu, another small rural horticultural community, people have got together and made 50 bags. In Mount Beauty, in Tawonga, people have been meeting twice a week, and they've sewn 430 bags—a huge effort! Myrtleford has made 80 bags. Wangaratta—I love you, Wangaratta, for what you've done—went to the mills that make material and got the material that was going to be sent to landfill. They rescued that material; they stopped it going to landfill. They've made over 3,000 plastic bags. They actually stopped that plastic landfill, so that's a terrific effort.

In Yackandandah, my local community, over 500 recycled bags have been made. It's been great because they've been working with our local FoodWorks supermarket which, way ahead of the team, came out and said that they weren't going to have any more plastic bags. On the weekend, I was in Yackandandah. I had my recycled bag. Everyone has been putting their bags together in the big bin, and people can help themselves. It's working superbly—from Yarck to Yea, Bonnie Doon and Wodonga.

I'll finish with Wodonga and its Sustainable Activity Centre. Not only are they making recycled material bags; they also have a repair cafe. It's not about plastic bags; it's about making sure that things that have broken down can get fixed and don't get put into landfill. They've also got a battery collection service there.

It gives me such hope, Member for Mayo. We're calling on a top-down approach from the government to get their act together, and we're absolutely being led by our communities, doing all this bottom-up work. They're getting out there, they're solutions focused and they're doing what our communities do so well—they're taking the lead, and they're calling on us now, as members of parliament, to get our government to do what it needs to do. So thank you very much for bringing this really important motion to the parliament. I'm really pleased that you've written to the different states to say, 'Get your act together.' We're looking for the Commonwealth to continue to play a lead role in this. It gives me great pleasure to support this motion.

Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I agree very strongly with the call for action at the end of this motion. It's why I fought so hard for one of my election commitments, which involves catching rubbish in the Brisbane River before it moves out to Moreton Bay and the open ocean. I also want to say, with a great deal of respect to all honourable members speaking on this topic, whose passion should be commended and that matches my own passion, that this motion could be further developed in its approach and its language not just around the sentiments but when it comes to considering the options at play and the practical solutions in front of us. So I want to use my time today to very constructively put on the record some considerations that might help to advance this parliamentary debate from where the policy's been in recent years to where it is now, having regard to the science and the evidence and some of my knowledge from the industry I used to work in before coming to this place.

Plastic bags are detrimental to the environment. Logically, the next question has to be: if we propose to ban them, what are the substitutes that people will turn to, and are they more, or less, detrimental? Paper bags, for instance, can use far more water and electricity, depending on their make, and therefore can have a worse carbon footprint. And those synthetic bags that a lot of retailers sell now are probably the heaviest and most resource-intensive of all the options. If we use them enough times, ultimately they become a better option for the environment. But the evidence suggests that at this stage people aren't presently using them nearly enough times, on average, to make them the best choice. Heavier-grade plastics, on the other hand, do use more plastic than lightweight single-use plastic bags, so they can take as long or longer to degrade. Yet the facts suggest that because they're heavier they don't travel as easily through the air or through the water, so they're much less likely to enter the waterways and the open ocean. That's why schemes such as those introduced in South Australia and the ACT particularly focus their efforts on phasing out lightweight, single-use plastic bags, allowing retailers and customers to substitute other plastic bags, like heavier-grade plastics or indeed biodegradable or compostable plastics.

And that's an issue I want to mention in passing. I've said consistently in other debates in this place, from burqa bans to night-life lockouts, that calls for blanket bans can sometimes be a clunky, poor choice for policymakers—always motivated by good intentions but too often giving rise to unintended consequences. Sometimes better and more sophisticated or nuanced policy responses are available. In this case, I want to inform honourable members that I'm onboard with this concept of phasing out, specifically, lightweight plastic bags, so long as we also help consumers, especially poor consumers, who might end up paying a bit more, and industry, especially small businesses, to transition and gain the best awareness they can as to substitutes, which we can show are better overall.

One further note on that in passing: honourable members need to know that South Australia was the pioneer in this place. Some of the definitions around biodegradability and compostability have moved on since then, and all of us in this place maybe should be suggesting that South Australia and other states really look at that fund that this government put aside recently, in the last budget, to assist all the states to upgrade their laws and achieve harmony between the different laws to make sure that we don't end up with that impact of different laws and red tape across different states.

And I want to point out that some of the numbers in this motion I think might not be quite right. One bag per person per day—in other words, about 20 million bags a day—was certainly what some studies showed about 10 years ago. More recent studies showed that it's probably about halved since then, and mostly that's due to education and awareness around the community, as well as some of the bans that have already been instituted in some of the minor jurisdictions.

In conclusion, I want to express very fine sentiments with respect to this motion. If honourable members come to me, for instance, with a firm proposal to put some resources behind the research and evidence gathering done on plastic bags and, in particular, their substitutes—which is very possible with the agencies out there—which helps the industry, potentially, and small business in particular to transition. In that way we won't inadvertently undermine the competitive neutrality between different retailers or between big and small businesses and their ability to transition. It also helps the states to achieve uniform, consistent laws across the country, which then would very likely attract cross-party support, including from me, because it would have the makings of a genuine, workable way forward.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the motion by the member for Mayo on plastic bags and commend her for it. I'm old enough to remember a time before we brought our shopping home in lightweight plastic bags, when the shop assistant carefully packed the goods into a large brown paper bag. Now, I know brown paper bags don't have a good history in Queensland, because they were always breaking, if the goods were too heavy, or disintegrating, if the cold goods turned the paper soggy. Lightweight plastic bags were a revolution—easy to carry and very strong—but few turned their minds to what would happen to those plastic bags after we used them or reused them.

Australians use an astounding five billion bags a year. In Queensland alone, 900 million single-use plastic shopping bags are used annually. What happens to those 900 million bags? The majority end up in landfill, where they will take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade. Shamefully, 16 million of them end up as litter. Not only does that make our community spaces untidy but plastic bags are ingested by wildlife. The plastic doesn't break down in an animal's digestive system and can actually cause it to starve. Ninety per cent of seabird species and 30 per cent of sea turtles have ingested plastic debris. As Queensland is home to the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, this is a shameful tragedy. The Great Barrier Reef is home to six of the world's seven species of marine turtle.

Polluting our precious environment is not only environmentally bad but also economically bad. The Great Barrier Reef is a huge drawcard for tourists in the Sunshine State, and experiencing the beautiful marine life is a highlight of any reef visit. Tourism directly and indirectly employs 225,000 Queenslanders and contributes nearly $13 billion to our economy.

The Queensland government has recognised the importance of protecting our natural resources like the Great Barrier Reef. In 2016, the Palaszczuk government released a discussion paper on implementing a ban of lightweight plastic bags. It received more than 26,000 submissions, and 96 per cent of the respondents supported introducing a ban and 60 per cent of respondents also supported widening the ban to include biodegradable bags. The Palaszczuk government has listened to Queenslanders. From 1 July this year, lightweight plastic shopping bags will be banned. I congratulate the Queensland Labor government for joining the other states and territories that have already banned plastic bags, but I especially congratulate Queensland for bravely going even further than the other states. Queensland is now leading the way by also including biodegradable bags under this ban. Biodegradable bans can be as dangerous for wildlife and as bad for the environment as lightweight plastic shopping bags. There are certain conditions that need to be met for biodegradable plastic bags to break down—firstly, a temperature of 50 degrees Celsius, which is not a temperature ever found in our oceans. As biodegradable bags don't float, they sink to the bottom of the ocean, where they will never be exposed to the UV rays that help break them down. In fact, the conditions necessary to break them down are never found anywhere. Instead, they just break into ever-smaller particles which make their way into our oceans, our waterways and our wildlife. So it makes sense to ban biodegradable bags. There is no sense moving away from harmful plastic shopping bags to just replace them with biodegradable bags that are only slightly less harmful. The Queensland government has allowed for a transition period before the ban comes into effect on 1 July. It is hoped that Queenslanders will wholeheartedly embrace the transition away from harmful plastic bags. I encourage my fellow Queenslanders to make the change to environmentally friendly, reusable bags—for example, like this one I'm holding. Do it today. There's no reason to wait until 1 July to stop using plastic bags. Make it a part of your shopping routine. Collect the reusable bags before you leave home or store them in your car. Don't forget them when you're going to the shops. It is better for the Queensland environment, it is better for our economy and, obviously, it's better for the planet.

I encourage the New South Wales state government, which is now, sadly—can you believe it?—the only state or territory government not to implement a ban on plastic bags, to not delay any further. It's just like the State of Origin: you can't beat us—but now, this time, you can join us.

Banning plastic bags is necessary. Plastic bags litter. They pose a real threat to the land and marine environments and, obviously, to our economy and the tourism associated with it. All Australians benefit from protecting our fragile environment. Again, I commend the member for Mayo for this motion.

Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When Windsor Public School student Lily Spies was nine years old last year, she did a project at school on single-use plastic bags and their impact on the environment. The harmful effects that they had so moved her that, like the member who moved this motion, she saw something had to be done. She was a key speaker at Hawkesbury City Council when it considered a motion last July to ban plastic bags. The motion was successful, and there was a commitment by the council to advocate at a state and federal level for a ban. Lily—more to the point—now 10, has not stopped her campaigning to address environmental issues in her school and also at a local government level and in the wider community. She's inspired. Her work has been noticed, and it was a delight to be there to see Lily as a co-winner of the Environmental Award at the Hawkesbury City Council's Australia Day Awards—and all because Lily saw that plastic bags were not the way to go.

Like Lily, many people of the Hawkesbury and Blue Mountains area have long been committed to protecting our beautiful local environment. There's no doubt that the use of plastic bags in local businesses and supermarkets has come to the forefront, and there's already action being taken. I know many of us here have talked about remembering the pre-plastic bag days—that does date us—when you did get a paper bag for your groceries. Organisations such as the Hawkesbury Environment Network, the Ban the Bag Blue Mountains group, Boomerang Bags, in both the Hawkesbury and Blue Mountains, and local councillors in both the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury have all been vocal and committed to phasing out the use of plastic bags in our area.

Many of our retailers already offer paper and cloth bags, in spite of there being no all-over New South Wales policy on this. I must note the great effort by the Springwood Chamber of Commerce and the shopkeepers there, who, as part of their 'shop local' push, have come up with a local, cloth bag that people can use time and time again. They, and many others in my electorate of Macquarie, know that the plastic bags stocked at the checkout and stowed away under our sinks have far-reaching impacts when they hit our environment. The estimated 520 million bags that Australians use each day contribute to the 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic in our oceans. I don't need to explain the devastating impact that it has on wildlife, and I think a simple photo of a sea turtle that has ingested plastic really says it all. A third of our sea turtles and half of our seabirds have ingested plastic, according to the CSIRO. Indeed, our community groups, our businesses and the government initiatives that have already occurred in some states recognise the importance of removing plastic from the natural environment. We already spend around $4 million a year, by the way, to clean up littered bags.

Most Australian states have made a move. South Australia was the first to enact the ban in 2009, so that's nearly a decade of a ban. Under their plan, the plastic bags of less than 35 microns in thickness, with handles, were prohibited. This left shoppers with a choice: to either bring their own reusable bags to the counter or pay up to 25 cents per biodegradable bag. It's a pretty simple scheme. Since then, the South Australian Environmental Protection Authority has estimated that the measures have resulted in 400 million fewer plastic bags in that state. These changes were welcomed by the people of South Australia, with nine in 10 shoppers choosing to take reusable bags to the supermarket after the ban.

The ACT has followed suit in banning non-biodegradable bags in 2010. They've found that the ban has reduced the volume of plastic bag waste in landfill by a third. And I certainly know I have to remember to take my green bags with me when I do my shop before parliament sits for a week. When reviewing the ban in 2013, the ACT government found that almost three-quarters of constituents wanted to keep the ban in place. So New South Wales remains the only state that refuses to commit to banning the bag, with both Queensland and Western Australia having recently come on board.

It doesn't need to be something that is left purely to the states. We, as a federal parliament, should be actively improving how we look after the environment and working with the states so that there's no reason we couldn't achieve a national ban by the end of the year. I'm quite aware that this isn't necessarily the most exciting piece of environmental legislation, but it is one that we know would make a difference. I think encouraging these changes is something that this parliament can do.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.