Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, I acknowledge the obviously different parliamentary structures. However, I think we all agree that Australia is a nation girt by sea and, very broadly, we are an ocean-loving community. People who live near the coast and even those who live inland love their oceans and take these issues very seriously. I would remind the Senate that these amendments are based on European legislation which was primarily aimed at helping to reduce the impact of marine plastic pollution, but it also is recognised by the recycling industry. In fact, one of APCO's voluntary targets is to phase out problematic single-use plastics. Why? Because they can't be recycled. There is talk of different techniques for potentially recycling these plastics, but everybody knows they're problematic. They cause problems in the sorting process and they go to landfill. They need to go. Everybody seems to recognise that we need to do something about this.

I was particularly interested in the government's response to this because, as I mentioned in my contribution to the second reading debate, the Prime Minister went to New York to address the UN General Assembly, where he said Australia was going to lead on this issue. Yet, what I see from the European Parliament is leadership on reducing single-use plastics. Minister, I noticed in your contribution and in many contributions by Liberal senators that you talk about plans, lots of plans, to complement what we have here today. The problem is twofold. We haven't seen the detail of your plans such as your plastics plan, and plans aren't legislated. They are not necessarily going to be enforceable. I think we all agree that they're policies that will live or die at the whim of a government, no matter who is in government.

The recycling industry and others are saying that they want to see legislative certainty. They want us to get the settings right. They need that certainty to invest, to move us to a circular economy, to move us out of the waste crisis. Of course, those many millions of Australians who care about the impact of marine debris and marine plastic pollution on our marine life want to see this done. Minister, why haven't you released your plastics plan? When will you release your plastics plan and will there be a comprehensive strategy in your plastics plan to phase out problematic single-use plastics?