Jodie Belyea (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak on the report by the Standing Committee on Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, Drowning in waste: plastic pollution in Australia's oceans and waterways. This is an important report, and I thank each member of the standing committee for the work on an issue that is having a devastating impact in Australia's oceans and waterways. I particularly want to thank the chair of the standing committee, the member for Makin, for his work. This issue is particularly acute in my community of Dunkley, which sits along Port Phillip Bay and bears the full brunt of plastic pollution after storms or heavy rainfall. Walk down the beach after a storm and you are greeted by rubbish—plastic bits and pieces, bottle tops, single-use plastic, cups, bottles, thongs, toys and debris, in all shapes and sizes. I take a rubbish bag with me to help clean up the mess. We also have creeks and other waterways, like Sweetwater Creek in Frankston South and Patterson River, feeding into Patterson Lakes. These precious waterways also get clogged with plastic after heavy rainfall.

The committee, in its report Drowning in waste: plastic pollution in Australia's oceans and waterways, made 22 recommendations aimed at trying to create incentives for newly produced plastic to contain recycled materials, strengthening Australia's plastic management framework and also strengthening the management of plastic that already exists in the environment. To me, these are important, critical measures that must be implemented to reduce the harm caused by plastics—because the harm associated with plastics is undeniable, whether it be to humans, animals, marine life or our beautiful natural environment. As the report points out, microfibres and microplastics are already found in our food and water and contain harmful chemicals and toxins that are detrimental to human health. Just recently, I watched a report on the ABC which made the connection between leaching from plastic packaging and increasing levels of infertility in men and women.

I would like to acknowledge the work of the Mindaroo Foundation, in collaboration with JBI at the University of Adelaide, on the report Umbrella review: impact of plastic-associated chemical exposure on human health,a world-leading study. The report said:

… our umbrella review focused on research into some of the commonly used groups of plastic chemicals that we know humans are exposed to.

And:

Our umbrella review found that there is consistent and irrefutable evidence that plastic chemicals in every class examined harm human health across the entire human life cycle.

There is much more research to be done in this space, as we as a society have significant gaps in knowledge on this issue.

Some really good, simple recommendations are included in the Drowning in waste report, which can be implemented relatively easily—simple things, like recommendation 9, 'to standardise and simplify plastic packaging and recyclability labelling to make it easier for consumers to recycle effectively'. Greenwashing is legitimate and requires more oversight. Creating a uniform system of recyclability labelling would help solve this. Recommendation 8 recommends harmonising and expanding state and territory container deposit schemes. In Victoria we received a container deposit scheme only a little over a year ago, but I know that many states and territories have been running their own container deposit schemes for many years. Creating uniformity in these schemes and expanding them to include milk, juice, wine and spirit bottles would go a long way towards the reduction of plastics entering landfill or our natural environment.

Governments must take leadership on schemes like this, where the private sector fails—situations like that of soft-plastics recycler REDcycle, who suspended their soft-plastics collection program in November 2022 due to their recycling partners temporarily stopping the acceptance and processing of soft plastics. The suspension of the REDcycle program removed the only established and widespread recycling pathway for consumers and created significant concerns about existing stockpiles and how consumers can recycle soft plastics. The Soft Plastics Taskforce was established in response, and I look forward to its recommendations and outcomes. There is a clear need for an effective program which is uniform across the country and led by the Australian government.

As the committee noted in its report, one of the big disappointments is that Australia's National Plastics Plan is 'not fit for purpose'. It's disconnected and just doesn't have the appropriate goals required for Australia to reduce plastic pollution meaningfully.

Australia needs an updated national plastics plan. Responsibility for plastics must be shifted back onto plastic manufacturers, because 1.84 billion single-use cups are being wasted by every Australian each year, contributing to health, litter, landfill and climate change. According to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, 130,000 tonnes of plastics leak into the marine environment in Australia every year. Globally, it's estimated that over 12 million tonnes of plastic leak into the oceans every year. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, based on current trends, there will be more plastic than fish by weight in the oceans by 2050.

I recently met with Boomerang Alliance, who has been shining a light on the impact of the use of plastic packaging, which, in Australia, is excessive, wasteful and dangerous to the environment, our wildlife and humans. They have developed a stewardship model packaging framework including guidelines for a best-practice scheme to inform the proposed Commonwealth scheme. The scheme includes guidelines and principles for packaging and circular economy arrangements. The framework is built on the premise that businesses producing or selling packaging have a responsibility beyond the designer use of their packaging to contribute towards it being collected, reused, recycled and composted.

In Dunkley, we have many passionate locals working hard to address the impact, such as through Plastic Free Places, which is supporting local businesses and organisations to adopt plastic-free practices—for example, carrying a reusable water bottle and taking your own cup for a takeaway coffee. It is small things like these that all of us can do to take action and make change.

Thanks to these local organisations, staff and dedicated volunteers from Dunkley and beyond that I have met with—the Boomerang Alliance, Plastic Free Places, BeachPatrol Frankston and the South East Councils Climate Change Alliance. Your work is immeasurable.

We are actively aware there is more we need to do as a government to reduce our reliance on single-use plastics—mainly derived from fossil fuels—whilst avoiding the emissions and waste materials plastic produces. We know there is more to do and are working to change legislation to ensure targets are mandatory, not voluntary, so they are adopted and achieved.

I want to finish on some words from the member for Makin, who said very aptly in his media release:

Without urgent action, plastic waste will increase and continue to negatively impact our oceans and waterways—

and humans—

Australia needs to act now to protect its natural environment for future generations.

Debate adjourned.