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

I would just like to say a few words and acknowledge a few people before we go to the final vote. Obviously, the Greens will be voting for the bill as it is, but we are bitterly disappointed, as I know many other Australians are. This has been a missed opportunity to get significant amendments in legislation—to act on plastic pollution, one of the biggest environmental challenges we face on the planet—and also to give the recycling industry the certainty they need to get us out of this waste crisis we find ourselves in—invest in infrastructure, upgrading their processes and creating Australians jobs.

To all those people who have campaigned really hard over many years, especially in recent months, to convince senators to support these strong amendments that we have debated in the Senate in the last 24 hours, I would like to say thank you. I would like to say to you also that we have come a long way on this debate. Just a few years ago it wasn't even being discussed in parliament. We haven't had any legislation on this in the Senate for nearly 10 years. We've had a number of big Senate inquiries and we've seen the issue build and build in the Australian public's consciousness. It is now an issue of significant public importance. We won't be giving up. We have come a long way.

Last night, we debated a key amendment to mandate product stewardship schemes for the packaging industry—telling some of the biggest producers of plastic packaging on the planet here in Australia that by 2025 their voluntary targets need to be met or there will be consequences. We were one vote away from holding the big packaging industry to account, and no-one has done that for 25 years. While we were one vote away, we are one step closer to actually getting some meaningful change and some meaningful action.

I'd also like to say to those people, the many of them who are listening today, a lot of things have happened because of the work this Senate has done. This Senate has led the world in looking at marine plastic pollution, with the first parliamentary inquiry. The environment committee conducted an extensive and exhaustive inquiry into the waste crisis and made a number of very substantial recommendations. If we hadn't been going through these processes—raising and putting these issues on the table—politically speaking, the government never would have acted. Our Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, never would have gone to the United Nations saying Australia was going to lead on plastic pollution. Unfortunately, today, I don't think we can say with any confidence that our Prime Minister has led on plastic pollution, because this bill has passed—a bill that completely excludes plastic packaging, the exact waste stream that is causing the problem. But have no fear, Australia; we will continue to push and we will get results.

One question that I am asked consistently, including last night and this morning, is: why won't this government put in place two simple bits of legislation that ban the most problematic plastics we find in our ocean? When the states are already doing it and everyone is calling for harmonisation and leadership, why won't the government do that? Why won't they take the voluntary targets and just put them into law? It is simple, especially when the industry say they will meet the targets. It won't cost them any extra. Why won't the government do that? That is a question we will continue to ask in this place.

My personal view is, yes, there is some small-government ideology on the other side, perhaps a lot of small-government ideology, and there are people fundamentally opposed to regulation. The Greens have a very distinct difference of opinion. I believe government has a strong role to play in our lives, particularly around an environmental issue that needs government intervention. But I also think a big part of the problem is the packaging industry are big donors to the Liberal Party. Visy has donated $1.8 million to the Liberal Party since they have been in government. Visy is arguably the biggest packaging company on the planet. Our Prime Minister stopped to visit Visy on his way to the United Nations, ironically, to talk about the action he was going to take on plastic pollution, which we haven't done today. But that shows you how powerful these big donors can be in our democratic processes here.

Even the recycling industry, which employs 60,000 people, supported these amendments. I would like to give a shout-out to Gayle Sloan from the waste management association of Australia for the evidence she has given at Senate committee inquiries. She has been quite happy to talk to the media and to stakeholders to let them know the views of her association, and of course there is Rose Reid from the National Waste and Recycling Industry Council. They have both been very vocal about their 60,000 members who wanted to see these amendments. But so powerful are the packaging industry, the Food and Grocery Council and the others that have opposed the mandatory schemes that ultimately we failed by one vote to get this reform through. But, as even Senator Birmingham has acknowledged, this is definitely not the end of the road. The government has a number of plans they will bring in. We will continue to scrutinise those. We will definitely not step back. We will be keeping a very close eye on this and making sure that we do get single-use plastics banned around the country and that we absolutely do everything we can as a parliament to make sure that these voluntary targets move to 100 per cent recyclable and compostable. Every time you walk into the supermarket, senators, look around you. When you go this afternoon to buy some milk, have a look at all that packaging. By 2025, that has to be 100 per cent recyclable or compostable, according to the voluntary targets that have been set by the industry, which—I will remind you one last time—they say they are going to meet. Thirty per cent of all that packaging needs to be made from recycled material, preferably from Australia. That means Australian jobs, and that gives the recycling industry the confidence they need.

To finish, I'd really like to thank some key people who have helped to campaign to get some reform in this area and no doubt will continue to campaign. Many of them have been very close to this for a number of years. I would like to thank the Boomerang Alliance, in particular Robbie Kellman in Tasmania, and Toby Hutcheon and Geoff Angel from Sydney. Boomerang Alliance is an alliance of 46 different environment groups around the country. They played a pivotal role in getting container deposit schemes up in New South Wales and other places. They're really, really good people. They know this better than anyone, and I know how disappointed they're going to be when the third reading is voted on without key amendments.

I'd like also to give a particular shout-out to WWF Australia, in particular to Katinka Day, who has been hitting the phones very hard. They have nearly two million people on their email list. They've been calling for these amendments to be supported. I know many senators have received those emails and probably some very nice, hopefully personable, phone calls to their office to encourage them to do the right thing. In Greenpeace: Jamie Hanson, thank you. And speaking of Hansens, I acknowledge Jeff Hansen from Sea Shepherd and of course his lovely wife Marina Hansen, who has appeared at two Senate inquiries to give evidence on why Sea Shepherd have a marine debris program and what they're doing around marine plastics. I would also like to cover Sea Shepherd Tasmania, particularly Michael Broome, Erin Harris and Sarah Briggs, who do a fantastic job and have been very active in trying to get support for these amendments. The Humane Society International: thank you for your support. Australian Marine Conservation Society have been trying to get their members active to call on senators to support these amendments as well. They also have hundreds of thousands of Australians on their contact list who they’ve been talking to. I thank in particular Shane Hooker, who has been leading that for them.

I'd like to talk about Surfrider Foundation. Interestingly, they were here yesterday to get the government to oppose PEP 11 drilling off Newcastle and Sydney. I was on the board of Surfrider Foundation many moons ago, before I came into politics. They have been campaigning on marine plastics since 2005, and that's where I stared. With their Rise Above Plastics campaign in 2006 they were the first environment group around the world to campaign on marine plastics. Because surfers see it—they see it in the water; they could see what was happening in their beach clean-ups—they knew over 20 years ago that this was a massive environmental problem. I know they're going to be bitterly disappointed today to see that, at the first chance in a decade to do something about it in this place, we have squibbed that responsibility. I thank in particular Susie Crick, who I think has appeared at at least five Senate inquiries to talk about why that organisation wants real action, and Brendan Donohoe.

I'd also like to acknowledge Patagonia, Plastic Free July and Plastic Free Launceston, particularly Trish Haeusler, and give a real shout-out to the Peloton Against Plastic guys, who've been very active on social media. They cycled across the Vietnam, along the Mekong River, talking to Vietnamese businesses. The world's great rivers produce most of our marine plastics. Most of what we find on Australian beaches is from Australian sources, but most of the world's great rivers produce the bulk of plastics. They spent six months cycling their bikes, talking to Vietnamese business people and citizens about what they can do to replace plastics, and they're continuing that work. Like a lot of good people, they're not giving up. I give a particular shout-out to Paul Hellier and Jamie Lepre: you are absolute legends. Thank you for everything you've done. Kate Nelson, Plastic Free Mermaid, has been an absolute legend. She is well known around the world for her advocacy on living without any plastic for decades. She has been an absolute gem with getting people motivated to call their local senators and take some action here.

It's unusual to talk about staff in this place, but Fraser Brindley used to work for me and used to work in the waste space for the EPA in Victoria. I know his heart is in this, and he did a significant amount of work on the private member's bill that these amendments were based on and in working with stakeholders. I would like to thank Fraser for everything he's done over many years.

It might surprise some people, because she's not here, that I'd also like to acknowledge Senator Lee Rhiannon, who came to me in 2014 and said: 'I think we really need a big Senate inquiry into marine plastic. Why isn't the Senate looking at this issue and what we can do?' Even then, we knew that the government, under EPBC law, had listed marine debris as a threatening process. We all knew back then it was killing marine life; in fact, it was a weapon of mass destruction to marine life. Yet no-one was looking at what the government was actually doing to act on the problem. So I'd like to thank Lee for that quiet moment when she sat down with me and suggested the Senate inquiry, because that's really where things kicked off.

I'll finish by saying this is not the end of the road. The government have come a long way. They have a lot further to go. I understand why people are cynical. The packaging industry have never met any of the targets or kept any of the promises they've made over 30 years in this country. I sincerely hope that is going to change in the years to come. The Greens will continue to work constructively with all political parties, and with anyone, to help solve this problem.

Question agreed to.

Bills read a third time.