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

My question is to Senator McAllister, representing the Minister for the Environment and Water. In recent weeks Australians were shocked and bloody angry when news broke—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McAllister is an assistant minister. Do you wish to redirect? Assistant ministers don't take questions. I'm happy to go to Senator Pratt and come back to you if you want?

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

No, I'll just make my question more broad. My question is to the senator representing the Minister for the Environment and Water.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator, I don't know who that is, so you need to be direct.

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

I don't either, actually. Given Senator Farrell was on a rare roll and a moment of animation, I might direct it to him. I actually don't know, President.

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

I'll take it.

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

Senator Wong, thank you. In recent weeks, Australians were shocked and bloody angry when news broke that the soft-plastics recovery scheme run by Redcycle had collapsed, with billions of tons of plastic packaging being stored in warehouses rather than being recycled. Australians who were doing the right thing and taking plastic packaging back to supermarkets where it was purchased, rightly had expectations that big business and government would live up to their end of the bargain and see these plastics, which are so commonly found and dangerous in our oceans, recycled. Minister Plibersek expressed frustration at the news, saying, 'It shouldn't be beyond big companies like Coles and Woolworths to come up with a viable solution to soft-plastic recycling.' Senator, why is it seemingly beyond these big businesses to sort out their mess, and what is your government now planning to do to hold them to account?

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

I thank you for the question. I acknowledge there are quite a lot of representing ministers here, so I understand the mistake that was made. We share your frustration and the frustration of Australians with what has occurred in the soft-plastics recycling sector. I know that, in our household and in many households, people who have done the right thing, put soft plastics together in a big bag and taken them down to the local supermarket in the hope of actually reducing the amount of soft plastic in the environment were very, very disappointed by the news of the financial position the industry was in but also the lack of results.

I was asked the question: why is it beyond big business? Well, I guess you'd have to ask them. What I can say is that it's clear the regulatory settings that were in place and the incentives that were in place, whether they were government or market driven, were insufficient for that sector to work.

We know that there is not just environmental but economic benefit in recycling, as opposed to landfill. Knowing Ms Plibersek as I do and knowing her determination, as Minister for the Environment and Water, to take action on this, I have no doubt she will look very carefully at what the best way forward is. This is an issue where I would say to the industry that Australians are clear in terms of their behaviours—what they want to do—and it would be a good thing if the market could respond to that incentive, which is that people want to do the right thing.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Whish-Wilson, first supplementary?

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

The environment department has said multiple times in estimates that it will likely know by the end of this year whether Australia will meet our 2025 packaging waste reduction and recycling targets facilitated by the big-business led Australian Packaging Covenant. Well, it's the end of the year, Minister, and this is a significant matter of public interest, as you just mentioned. Can the government now provide to the Senate and the Australian people an update on whether we will meet our 2025 packaging targets?

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

Well, firstly, the senator was critical of the targets. What I understand is that we're a long way from meeting them. The note I have in front of me—and I'll confirm this—is that the target of 70 per cent of plastic packaging was set for 2025, and Australia has been stuck at 16 per cent for four years. I don't know if that's going to be worsened by the subsequent industry collapse, or challenges, that you've described.

Clearly, nine years of a coalition government who didn't want to do anything on this has meant we're a long way behind.

Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Oh, what? We banned—

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

Senator Henderson, I'd like you to explain to us, then, why, if you set a target for 70 per cent and announced it, we're still stuck at 16 per cent. The problem with the coalition is that they seem to think that if you announce something it magically happens. Well, transitions and policy take a bit more work than that.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Whish-Wilson, second supplementary?

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

It sounds like yet another failed plastic waste reduction and recycling scheme, based on what you've said. So I suppose my question is: what is it going to take for your government to accept that, after 25 years of repeated failure to reduce plastic packaging waste, a voluntary approach that relies on the goodwill of big business to do the right thing doesn't work and you now need to regulate the packaging industry and give actual consequences for failure?

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

Senator Whish-Wilson, I come from the state of South Australia. You might remember the arguments over what I think was called container deposit legislation. We ended up going it alone, and, frankly, it proved to be the right response.

Could I just go through what I understand to be what we have done in the six months we've been in office. There's a $250 million investment in infrastructure to sort, process and re-manufacture materials, including $60 million in the recent budget for hard-to-recycle plastics, such as soft plastics. The minister has added plastics from medical waste, mattresses and tyres to the minister's priority list. Listing these products is a signal to industry to act, and, if not, then obviously government can. In October, Minister Plibersek led the environment ministers' agreement to reform the regulation of packaging by 2025.

Obviously, there is more work to do, but we understand how important this is not just for the environment but actually for Australians.