Tuesday, 16 August 2022

Bills

Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2022

Second reading

Debate resumed on motion of Ms D’AMBROSIO:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Mr NEWBURY (Brighton) (13:20): I rise to speak on the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2022. When it comes to this bill, the environment and the circular economy, the government need a rocket under them. They absolutely need a rocket under them, and what I will go through today are the reasons why, because this is a problem, and this bill does not solve problems that are new. This bill seeks to provide policy solutions to problems that have been going for five years. In five years we have seen announcements. You would not be surprised to hear there have been a number of announcements. We have seen a plan—and it was glossy. We saw a glossy plan. We saw a legislative amendment two years after the glossy plan that announced a shell of a policy, and today we are seeing a furtherance of that shell. But does this bill set in place a date to commence some of the policy things that Victorians actually want done? The answer is no.

Earlier today we heard a member on the other side say that his community had been saying to him, ‘We want to see the container deposit scheme implemented. We want to see it implemented. We want to know when it starts’. The member on the other side was saying there was such strong community interest in seeing that and being part of that—and that is true. We know that across every community that is true. We know how important that is. When is it commencing? There is no date.

What does this bill do? This bill sets a date for a new bureaucracy. That is what this bill does. Make no mistake, this bill sets the date of a new bureaucracy; it does not set a date to implement, in a way that the community can participate in, the measures that they are so strongly wanting. The government are simply refusing to do that. When it comes to policy in this space not only do the government need a rocket under them, they are looking old and tired.

Mr Dimopoulos interjected.

Mr NEWBURY: Perhaps not the minister at the table, the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events—he has taken personal exception—but other than the minister at the table, when it comes to policy in this space the government are looking old and tired. We need a plan for the future. We need a plan to see these policies happen. We need to see these things happen. We need dates for them to commence, and we do not see that in this bill. This bill does not provide that. This bill provides a policy solution for an issue that first came about in—well, even before, but the mechanics of the issue were first seen in—2018, five years ago. Five years ago we were aware of fundamental collapses in the way we dealt with rubbish and the way we dealt with recycling. When those collapses started to occur what did the government do about it? Nothing. The government saw these failures occur—and not only did they see these failures occur, it took them quite some time to decide what they would do about it.

I know I spoke in the chamber soon after I was elected about the need for a container deposit scheme—within a couple of months of being elected. In fact the coalition led in this policy space by announcing serious policy on fixing these issues not only with a container deposit scheme but with a broader Zero to Landfill policy, and I will talk about that a bit later. What did the government do after following our lead? They announced a glossy policy on a 10-year plan. In February 2022 they announced a recycling 10-year plan. Two and a half years ago they announced the plan—and it was a glossy plan, I will give them that. They spent a lot of money making a glossy document, and some of the transitioning elements that were included in the plan were ‘boosting the economy’, ‘creating jobs’—important things—and ‘improving social inclusion’, but it lacked any detail. So the government announced, after 2½ years, a plan without substance, and they have done nothing with it since. They did nothing with it until legislating a shell at the end of last year and announcing this bill, which provides a date for a new bureaucracy.

By contrast the coalition has led in this policy space. When it comes to the container deposit scheme, many on our side of the chamber were vocal and public about this policy early. It is something that many of us were talking about—in my case before I was even in Parliament. It is a policy area that has been pushed from this side of the chamber. Our former leader the member for Malvern absolutely should be acknowledged for his achievements in this policy contribution space. He announced on behalf of the coalition a significant policy, and I am going to make some mention of it. Firstly, the policy states we would:

Work with industry and councils to achieve a:

- 33% reduction of household waste going to landfill by 2025;

- 66% … by 2030; and

- 100% … by 2035.

What a significant milestone for us as an opposition, moving with those types of goals. Secondly, we would:

Commit $120 million (over four years) from the Sustainability Fund to create a Zero to Landfill Fund ...

We are currently looking at a bill which is proposing to do some of these things. This is years later. We were on the front foot. Thirdly, we were to:

Commit State Government departments to work with industry to expedite approvals to get Victoria’s waste management and recycling back on track ...

Well, sadly, the government has not been doing that. Finally, we would:

Require State Government agencies … to prioritise fully recycled plastic products as part of their purchasing policies.

When you look around Australia—just Australia, let alone the world—it takes a very short time, when you compare and contrast, to see how slow we have been here. Those that have visited other states and wandered around their sites will have seen that container deposit schemes are now part of what you see when you visit places. When you visit the main sites in New South Wales you will see the container deposit scheme. When you go overseas you will see the scheme is being incorporated into the major supermarkets so that people can shop and return their recycling at the same time—things Victorians want and expect but, sadly, things that are only a pipedream in Victoria because the government have not actually done anything to make them happen. They have not proceeded in a way that the community would expect not only in a policy area that the community want but also, pressingly, in a policy space that requires attention. That is I think what is so disturbing here. It is not only what the community wants, it is also the policy requirement.

I will make mention of the bill in terms of what it actually does. Primarily the bill establishes a firmer waste-to-energy scheme. Interestingly enough, as part of that scheme it introduces an annual cap on the amount of tonnage, which it sets at 1 million tonnes, exempting the current operators—I understand there are three who produce 950 000 tonnes. In terms of setting in place a scheme, the first step they have made is to put in place a cap on something they have not even set out or commenced yet, which frankly makes little to no sense, and I can assure you the coalition in the other place will have more to say on that particular issue. It is putting in place a waste-to-energy scheme, which the coalition has been advocating for for years and provided a comprehensive plan for several years ago.

The bill will also introduce a new statewide infrastructure planning framework, and you can understand why that would be the case. I think that something the last five years have shown us is that we need to have far better strategic planning when it comes to managing these things. If we can coordinate that more centrally rather than, as at the moment, through several parts, that can only be a good thing. It is a 30-year plan, so that clearly gives some future to it, which is good. The bill also goes to risk-and-consequences contingency planning, which as you would expect in terms of corporate governance is also important. There are some matters relating to the way reporting occurs that are worth noting, and the ministerial discretion when it comes to the release of that plan is unique in the bill in relation to that particular plan. When you are talking about important statewide infrastructure matters, policy matters, it is worth noting that there is ministerial discretion on the release of part of those plans.

Finally, I spoke earlier about the creation of a new bureaucracy. When it comes to Labor, we know that they love a good bureaucracy. This bill introduces a date for the commencement of that bureaucracy, and the government have provided advice—which is advice that is appreciated—that the funding envelope would be within current funding envelopes. We would certainly expect that to be the case. Those are the elements of the bill and what it actually does. What it does not do is start doing what we have needed to be doing for a number of years. We actually need to get this stuff going. The government are very quick to say part of the delay is because they have been consulting. How can you consult for five years on an urgent policy matter and not reach the point of going?

It is genuinely concerning. When you look at their Recycling Victoria policy announcement of February 2020—so a good two years after issues arose and we were seeing market failures in this space, we see failures in the market—to see that their 10-year plan did not have any meat was really disappointing. Since they released that 10-year plan we have seen a quarter of that time lapse, and the only actions the government have taken have been to introduce a shell of a bill and now to introduce a bill that sets out the framework for a scheme and does not actually start it. I think Victorians could look at this bill with a bureaucracy commencing in the middle of the year and say, ‘There’s no way, if the bureaucracy is commencing in the middle of the year, that they will not need several months to set up’. Of course they will. They have set out a date for commencement for the middle of the year. and I suspect if lucky we might commence the container deposit scheme at the end of the year—if very, very lucky. The commitment the government has given is sometime in 2023. Well, let me tell you, it is not going to be early in 2023—and they are not going to be here.

We will certainly be having more to say in this space in the lead-up to the election, because we know that Victorians want this policy implemented, and they want it done quickly. That will be a campaign issue. That will be an issue for Victorians to decide on. I say to the minister and flag with the minister that the answer ‘I ain’t going to tell you when it’s going to happen’—probably because the minister has not even bothered to think through setting a date and some kind of go-slow—is not going to cut it anymore. We will be pushing this issue towards voters and saying ‘There will be a contrast on this’. There will be a contrast on the container deposit scheme because it is something that we have passionately spoken about. It is something we have passionately advocated for. It is something that we have been talking about getting action on for years.

We released significant policy on it before the government did—as an opposition—and yet we have no date when we will see this commence in Victoria. Under a coalition you will see a difference in that space, and I look forward to having that debate because we need to have a debate in this area. We have needed to have a debate on the environment more generally, because when it comes to environmental policy this government needs a rocket under them. They absolutely need a rocket under them. The policies are looking tired, they are looking old, and what they actually miss more than anything is a future plan. If you have been listening to your constituents or the constituency or Victorians or Australians, what they are saying is ‘We want to see plans, and we want to see plans for the future’. We want to see those plans being underpinned with hopefulness—of course we do—but it is about seeing plans for the future. Sadly, in a number of spaces in this portfolio area we do not actually have a plan for the future, and the plans that are in place are currently undercooked. They are not being achieved. There are targets that are not being met.

You do not have to look any further than electric vehicles and the commitment of 50 per cent by 2030 to know that when it comes to achieving its own policy goals in this portfolio space it is not happening. We are currently at 2 per cent of electric vehicles. Industry is now speaking publicly about the hopelessness of the government’s electric vehicle plan, the absolute hopelessness—2 per cent. Basically the government has done nothing, and I think that the minister having set up a task force to look at the electric vehicle policy issue is an acknowledgement of failure. When it comes to this government on that issue, it certainly is, but the same can be said in other policy areas.

We have been talking about recycling and waste, but it is not just in recycling and waste, it is in other areas in the broader environmental space. It is genuinely important that governments, especially in this space, recognise the need to have plans for the future and take the community with them on things like solar homes or batteries. These are policy areas where we need to see significant ideas and investment in the future that bring people along on that journey. When I last looked on the website, there had been 10 000 batteries installed in four years in Victoria under this government—10 000. We all know how important energy security is. The funding for the solar panel plan, from memory, finishes this year. I expect Labor to make an election issue out of a number of these things, and I anticipate that solar will be one of them. I am going to be watching very closely to see if they have the gumption to match our 1 million households plan. It is a plan that not only helps home owners but helps tenants and renters. How important is that?

That is what worries me I think with the container deposit scheme and the slowness of the government on these issues. Some of the people in our community who are most wanting to take part in community sustainability are people who do not live in a home—they might live in an apartment or they might be renters—and unfortunately there are so many blockages in the way policy works that they cannot do that. When we implement the container deposit scheme, renters and apartment dwellers will take more time to become involved because it is harder to make it work. There are genuine issues with rolling out these policies into those spaces. We need to get on with it. We need to do it with a rocket to make sure that we are not only starting it but rolling it out in a way that it can be achieved quickly. When you look at waste more generally now, you see that just in recycling and food waste. I represent Elwood, and Elwood is absolutely at the forefront of these issues. But because of the number of dwellings in the suburb and the suburbs around Port Phillip generally, they have not got capacity for pick-ups to be rolled out in a way that the community can be involved. Why shouldn’t they be involved? We want them to be involved. We want to be doing everything when it comes to policy to do that.

That is why we as a coalition, both in this particular policy space in terms of waste and recycling and in the broader environmental area, have led on announcing future plans, plans for four years. We committed to legislating an emissions reduction target of 50 per cent by 2030. That side of the chamber has gone very quiet on that. We will legislate a 50 per cent reduction by 2030. I have not seen Labor say anything about that, except the minister getting out her little Twitter account and tweeting five-year-old quotes, so not responding in substance to the policy matter. It is just drivel. This is a minister of the Crown, and that is just drivel. We need plans for the future, and we need to have ambitious plans, hopeful plans. When it comes to this portfolio space, we have not seen that.

There are a number of other things that we have talked about as a coalition. We have talked about the importance of gas. We have talked about the importance of a local gas guarantee. These are important because you need to ensure that people have a supply of energy. We have seen recently reports on the front page of a major newspaper that we have projected gas shortages, and the minister simply responding, ‘Oh well, it’s being shipped to New South Wales’—how embarrassing, former minister for environment. How embarrassing to know that the minister is just saying, ‘It’s not my problem, because it’s being shipped interstate’. Why don’t you do something about it, Minister? That is why the coalition has committed to legislating a local gas guarantee, to ensure that on new projects there is the capacity for Victorians to have access. This ensures energy security. I mentioned batteries earlier—the same thing. Energy security is so important, and we must put in place policies that plan for the future.

We have also committed to a $1 billion hydrogen strategy—how very important. I mean, the current hydrogen strategy in Victoria was managed by the minister for environment, but I understand it has been transferred to the Treasurer. I think, without making any deeply personal asides, that probably says quite a bit. My comments earlier about the government needing a rocket under them in this policy space have been absolutely shown by the hydrogen strategy in Victoria, because the responsibility was taken away from the minister—how embarrassing—and given to the Treasurer.

We have also committed to fixing Victoria’s grid, and that is fundamental to so much when it comes to energy and a lot of these plans for the future—making sure that that is modern and able to do the things we need it to do to meet the changes and challenges in the ways we need energy and energy is moved in this state.

Finally, something I have been particularly passionate about: we announced recently an increase in Melbourne’s tree canopy. I was talking about targets earlier and the electric vehicle target being, frankly, a dud in terms of the government’s capacity to get going there. The other one is tree canopy, and the government have been asleep at the wheel when it comes to tree canopy. They committed to a significant increase in trees in part of Melbourne—I think it was 1 million trees—and have currently delivered 50 000 from memory, the last time I checked with the minister. Seriously, you have got to do more than set targets. You actually need plans for the future, and then you have to follow up on them. Having a target is not enough.

We do not intend to oppose this bill. But when you look at the bill it is shameful to see that the government has taken five years to develop a plan for a policy space where we saw market failure, and in those five years it has released a glossy document that was a 10-year plan that did nothing, a shell bill at the end of last year and now a bill that sets a date for a new bureaucracy. What the government has not done in five years is actually started these things in Victoria, ensured that Victorians when it comes to things like the container deposit scheme can be part of the solution—can be involved. People are desperate to be involved. Sadly these policies are little steps towards that—but they are little steps. Just get up and get going. This minister and the government need a rocket up them. We need to show ambition, and we need a plan for the future, and that is exactly what the coalition will deliver.

Mr STAIKOS (Bentleigh) (13:50): Deputy Speaker, I congratulate you on your election to that post. I have not had an opportunity to congratulate you yet.

It is a pleasure to rise to make a contribution on the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2022. I have got to say one of the drawbacks of being the first government speaker on a bill is having to sit through 30 minutes of absolute garbage from the low-altitude flyers opposite—because what we just heard is a complete misunderstanding of the bill before us. In fact I would question if the member opposite had even read the bill because he said a number of things—for starters, I think it is important to point out to the member that the bill does not actually establish Recycling Victoria, or as he called it, the ‘new bureaucracy’. We passed that bill last year. I am sure the member for Brighton actually spoke on that legislation, and of course it commenced on 1 July this year. It has been operational for more than a month. As for waste-to-energy schemes, as he called them, well, there is currently a fully operational waste-to-energy facility in Victoria, and we are just placing regulation on what is an emerging technology.

I also think I heard the member for Brighton say words to the effect that we will not be around in 2023 to realise these reforms. Well, the reality is nothing can be taken for granted. But if I were the member for the ultra-marginal seat of Brighton, I would not be too cocky about being around in 2023, because what I would suggest to the member for Brighton is this current interest in the environment is like in the past with the Liberal Party when they have taken a bit of a selfie picking up rubbish on Clean Up Australia Day and that is them doing their bit for the environment, or it is a bit like going out to the CEO Sleepout: ‘Oh, we care about homeless people’. It is just providing lip-service to these important issues—absolute lip-service to the important issues. But what I would say is: it is this government that has taken the strong action when it comes to our environment and when it comes to facilitating a circular economy in this state.

This bill builds on the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021, which was passed last year. Specifically this bill will deliver a number of things, including introducing a thermal waste-to-energy scheme, which caps the processing of certain types of waste at facilities that process the waste using thermal waste-to-energy processes. It provides for the head of Recycling Victoria to license thermal waste-to-energy facilities in Victoria, and the head of Recycling Victoria cannot issue licences that collectively exceed an annual cap on permitted waste, expressed as 1 million tonnes per financial year.

The bill enables the head of Recycling Victoria to deliver a Victorian recycling infrastructure plan consolidating the existing multiplan framework into a single plan with a 30-year horizon to inform long-term strategic planning and support decision-making. The bill establishes a risk, consequence and contingency framework to ensure risks and consequences are identified and managed and contingency plans are implemented to minimise impacts of serious disruptions to waste, recycling and resource recovery service delivery, as we saw a few years ago in 2019. The bill also requires the head of Recycling Victoria to prepare an annual market report and provides a function to prepare market strategies.

There are a number of other reforms in the bill, but I note that the member for Brighton referred to the new bureaucracy, Recycling Victoria, and also referred to a glossy brochure. I would submit that Recycling Victoria: A New Economy is much more than a glossy brochure because it sets four ambitious targets for improving our state’s recycling system, which include, firstly, to divert 80 per cent of waste from landfill by 2030, with an interim target of 72 per cent by 2025. I note that at the beginning of the member for Brighton’s contribution he referred to a coalition policy of a 60 per cent target by 2030. Sixty per cent by 2030 on that side, 80 per cent by 2030 on this side—a bit more than a glossy brochure. We also commit in that document to cutting total waste generation by 15 per cent per capita by 2030 and to halving the volume of organic material going to landfill between 2020 and 2030, with an interim target of a 20 per cent reduction by 2025. We are seeing councils take the lead on this already. In the City of Glen Eira, where I live, we have weekly collections of organic materials from people’s homes. Of course it was a very challenging transition to begin with, but I can tell you the people of the City of Glen Eira have taken to it like ducks to water, because it is something that is very important and people do recognise the importance of this. Fourthly, we commit to ensuring every Victorian has access to food and garden organic waste recycling services or local composting by 2030.

While I am on the opposition, I did mention earlier a road to Damascus moment on issues of the environment. I think it is not quite a road to Damascus sort of situation, it is more the results of the last federal election. They were a long time coming, because who would ever have thought that all of those bayside seats, those former blue ribbon seats, would end up being held by less than a 1 per cent margin? And we saw the now teal MPs running on matters concerning the environment. I have sat in this chamber for eight years, so I can see through all of the rubbish from those opposite, because I was here, for instance, when they voted against our renewable energy targets. I was here when they gutted the original climate change act; I was here when they did that. But suddenly, here we are. Suddenly, they care about the environment. No, those opposite only care about themselves—and do not ever forget that. The member for Brighton has suddenly become an environmentalist. He is anything but. He is someone who is worried about the former blue ribbon seat of Brighton, and he should be worried, because we have got a fantastic candidate in Brighton, Louise Crawford. We wish her all the very best.

But let us not forget that at the last election those opposite took a policy to the election to build a 500-megawatt coal power station in the Latrobe Valley. This is now, supposedly, the party of tackling climate change. I am kicking myself because I did not bring the transcript with me of that car crash interview on Sky News with their former candidate for Frankston. The reality is only this government can be trusted to ensure that this state does its bit when it comes to tackling climate change; reducing emissions; facilitating a circular economy, which is what we are doing; boosting renewable energy; and meeting our renewable energy targets. Only this government can be trusted to do those things. Those opposite have had too many opportunities, and over the last eight years they have opposed every single effort by this government to protect this state’s environment. We will ensure that the people in their ultramarginal seats never forget that, because it is far too late to have this road to Damascus situation.

Business interrupted under sessional orders.