Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

Labor supports these amendments. In relation to amendment (1), we moved a similar amendment, in fact, in the other place. It's a shame that the government didn't support it over there and we hope that they will support it here. To give an example of how little has been achieved when it comes to waste outcomes for packaging, at present the recycling rate for plastic packaging is only 16 per cent. Without further regulatory action, it is pretty difficult to see how the government's target of 70 per cent by 2025 could possibly be achieved. We are a month away from it being 2021 and we should stop kidding ourselves about the lack of progress. Amendment (2) basically requires the statutory review of this act to be undertaken by an independent body rather than the department. This is very sensible. The statutory review of the Product Stewardship Act, which was due in 2016, wasn't delivered until this year. It's plain that we need an independent body to engage in this task.