Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Hansard source

If the opposition are interested in an answer we will seek to provide it; if they are not then I guess we will have to muddle on in any event. I can say that the government, along with other members of the Environment Protection and Heritage Council, is committed to the phase-out of free single-use plastic shopping bags, and would like that to be underway by 1 January 2009. This is a timetable that was agreed by the previous government. In fact, under the former minister for the environment, the member for Wentworth, that was announced through an EPHC communique on 2 June 2007. I will quote from that because it is quite clear that the opposition have a very poor memory on these matters. That communique said:

Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to phasing out plastic bags by January 2009. They welcomed the submissions received during the recent public consultation process on regulatory options for dealing with plastic bags and agreed to consider this issue again along with a revised Regulatory Impact Statement at their next meeting.

That is why this government now understands, in the lead-up to the council’s next meeting next month, that the state and territory ministers will be considering a range of options which were agreed to by the former government and in fact by the member for Wentworth last June. We now have a situation where there is widespread consultation. In fact, one of the options that the previous government did agree to was a proposal that the government impose a levy on plastic bags. That was the previous government’s policy.