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

My question is to Senator Wong, on behalf of the Minister for the Environment and Water. Plastic pollution in our oceans is one of the world's biggest environmental problems and challenges. The problem is getting worse, not better, largely because plastic packaging production is unregulated around the world. Minister, in recent weeks, negotiations for a global plastics treaty to eliminate plastic pollution from our environment took place in Paris. I understand that the minister attended in person because she was concerned that the treaty would be watered down and that some big producers of plastics were pushing for industry led approaches rather than legally binding, mandated schemes. Can you please update the Senate on the outcomes of these recent treaty negotiations?

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

I do recall the minister making a public statement about that, and I think I probably signed off on the credentials for the delegation. I don't have a brief in front of me that goes into detail to some of the questions you asked, so I will ask the environment minister to give me some advice if needed in order to add to my answer. It is correct to say that the minister did attend the discussions in relation to the development of a global treaty to end plastic pollution by 2040. I understand, both publicly and in terms of the advice I've been given now, that it was Australia's position that the treaty should be legally binding and include strong targets. That is also a view that is shared, as Senator Whish-Wilson would know, by many of our Pacific neighbours. If you'll indulge me with a small anecdote: when I was younger and used to do a lot of scuba diving in South-East Asia, it was bad then. I can only imagine that it has got a lot worse since.

Having said that, I don't have an update as to precisely what the conduct of the negotiations yielded. I will obtain advice on that, Senator Whish-Wilson, but I would make the point that we do have an environment minister, in Ms Plibersek, who is deeply committed to ensuring that in government we do all that we are able, whether it's in relation to plastics or more broadly, to repair nature and is committed to making sure that there is a measurable difference, as a consequence of the work she is doing, to our environment.

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

Senator Whish-Wilson, your first supplementary.

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

Thank you, Minister Wong. Respectfully, isn't it a bit rich for our government to be taking a leadership position in these global negotiations on a legally-binding global plastics treaty while we still have big business in Australia driving voluntary waste and reduction schemes—schemes which, I point out, have failed miserably over more than 20 years to achieve any of their objectives?

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

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

Senator Whish-Wilson, your second supplementary.

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

Minister, the Albanese government is in consultation stages for a potentially mandatory or legally-binding scheme for packaging in Australia. Given you will be consulting with the big packaging and retail businesses that are the cause of this pollution—and, may I say also, are big donors to your political party—will you confirm to the Australian people and commit to regulation that holds them to account and actually makes a difference?

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

It's almost impossible, isn't it, to get a Greens question without a suggestion that, somehow, government policy is changed because of political donations. You may think that, but that is not how we operate. As I said to past senator Milne, when she and I were contesting over the carbon price: 'It is possible that we may just not agree with your position.'

But, in relation to this, the advice I have is that the minister has sought agreement that there would be mandatory packaging design standards and targets, including for recycled content; that we would double the recycling capacity in Australia; that we would reform the regulation of packaging by 2025; that, at her instigation with the states, the ministerial advisory group would be formed; and that the minister has announced the regulation of recycling solar panels. (Time expired)