Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, I would say that we know, after a decade of those opposite, that we are in a far worse situation than we were over 10 years ago. I think that in the last decade—or just over a decade—we've seen plastic waste double. That's between about 2010 and 2021. I agree with you, Senator Whish-Wilson, that the voluntary targets and design guidelines aren't doing what we would want them to do. I'm advised that Minister Plibersek, at a recent Environment Ministers Meeting, obtained agreement with the states that packaging would be subject to strict new government rules aimed at cutting waste and boosting recycling. This is in order to help make sure packaging waste is minimised in the first place and that, where packaging is used, it is designed to be recovered, reused or recycled. (Time expired)