Thursday, 2 November 2023

Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023

Second reading

Debate resumed on motion of Steve Dimopoulos:

That this bill be now read a second time.

James NEWBURY (Brighton) (10:11): While I have the Minister for Police in the chamber, may I just have indulgence for one moment in thanking Victoria Police for their professionalism following an incident that has just occurred in Brighton in relation to two police cars being rammed and an innocent person’s car also, I understand, being involved in the incident. I think I speak for the whole chamber when I say Victoria Police do an incredible job in very difficult circumstances. They have this morning ensured that an incident that potentially could have been a lot worse has resulted, I understand, in no-one being injured. So if the minister would not mind, on behalf of Brighton, passing that on to Victoria Police, that would be appreciated.

I rise to speak on the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023. I stand here today having expected to speak on this bill yesterday, being the first day of the container deposit scheme’s (CDS) operation – the first day. You would have thought that the government would have brought on the bill to be gleeful and gloat and celebrate the first day, but they did not. What they did is shelve the bill until Thursday, when the government often will put bills that are difficult and when they are embarrassed. I can understand why this bill has been put on Thursday, because the government over the last week has been incredibly embarrassed by the rollout of the container deposit scheme. It is absolutely chaotic.

The rollout of the container deposit scheme follows a week of frankly pure chaos in terms of policy rollouts, but this one was particularly bad. I will go into detail in relation to both the bill and the rollout issues. I try to be kind in the way I describe things, but yesterday in relation to this bill I said that the government completely stuffed this one up. That is the only way to describe what we have seen in relation to the rollout of this policy, this policy that has had a five-year rollout. This is a problem and an issue that we have seen coming for five years. You would think, with a five-year lead-up, the government would have had enormous opportunity to develop policy and implement policy properly. I know that Victorians, quite broadly, are environmentally minded, and that is what they wanted to see. I think that all Victorians had goodwill in relation to the circular economy and wanting to bring in a container deposit scheme that brought in the best not only from Australia, where the scheme operates in other jurisdictions, but also from around the world.

I am sure that I speak for many when I say that accepting the fact that we needed a scheme took too long in terms of the government’s acceptance. The coalition led in calling for a container deposit scheme to be implemented in Victoria and committed to a policy to do that. The government finally – belatedly – agreed to follow the coalition’s calls. In the good spirit, I think, of all Victorians we had hoped that with a five-year rollout, with having an opportunity to review what was happening around the entire world in terms of container deposit collection, the government would have had the capacity to get this one right. How disappointing it has been for Victorians to see a rollout that is – there is no other way to describe it – completely stuffed up.

This policy was handed over to the new minister, from memory, about a month ago. I do not know whether to feel sorry for the minister or not, but the minister was handed a policy that the former minister clearly had not got right and had not completed before handing it across. I can just imagine the poor minister being handed the brief and attending his first briefing on the container deposit scheme and thinking, ‘How am I going to get this done in a month? How am I going to be able to roll this out in a month’s time as the minister and put my face to this policy?’ Well, it was terrible. No wonder it was announced yesterday 5 minutes from his home in Oakleigh rather than as a big grand scheme in the city or in a big media conference inviting –

Roma Britnell: It wasn’t in the city?

James NEWBURY: Well, we will get to why it was not announced in the city – that was because we have no container deposit locations. Even if the minister wanted to do it in the city, he could not have done it in the city. It was announced quietly yesterday in his suburb 5 minutes from home, because the policy rollout has been so completely stuffed up.

What we have seen over recent years – I start with this point in relation to the bill. This bill is the completion of a number of pieces of legislative work in relation to the circular economy. It would be fair to say that 90 per cent of the container deposit scheme has been legislated, so the legislative provisions for much of the scheme are in operation; it is just that the 10 per cent that has not been legislated includes the financial operations and the legal contractual operation of the scheme. The laws that allow the contracts to work and the funding scheme that makes the system work have not passed the Parliament – for a scheme that was introduced and commenced yesterday. It has not even passed the Parliament, despite that occurring yesterday.

When you look at case law around Australia you can see that there are serious issues in relation to the operation of this scheme and whether or not levies are applicable. Previous legislation clearly has been found not to have had an adequate head of power. The 2022 legislation that we dealt with in this chamber last year to allow for contracts to be rolled out in relation to the operation of the scheme has been found to raise legal questions in relation to those contracts. There are clearly legal questions as to whether or not the powers that were provided last year through this Parliament can broadly enough speak to the contracts that have been signed. We do not know what is in the contracts because they are commercial in confidence, but the fact that we have a bill which admits that the legal head of power may not cover what has been signed, I think, should be greatly concerning.

It should be greatly concerning for everybody in this place that we have a system that was rolled out yesterday where there are serious enough legal questions that a bill is in this place to try and fix the contracts that are currently – supposedly – in operation. You would question whether or not there are legal questions in relation to them; I think that is a very fair question. The government has not adequately explained that, other than to say ‘We accept the premise enough to need to have new powers passed by this Parliament to ensure that they are’. In a best-case scenario, the government manages to pass this bill in two weeks. We will have contracts in place for two weeks, and I would say there are very serious legal questions about the operation of those contracts. That is deeply concerning.

The funding arrangements – what happens in relation to money over the next two weeks? In relation to measures in the current bill, what happens in that regard? What is the legality of collecting money under the premise of powers that are currently before the Parliament and have not even been passed yet? It is concerning. The coalition has deep concerns about the rollout of this bill. I move, by way of reasoned amendment:

That all the words after ‘That’ be omitted and replaced with the words ‘this house refuses to read this bill a second time until the government commits to:

(1) publicly release an update on the progress of the rollout of the container deposit scheme, which commences on 1 November 2023, noting that:

(a) only half of the estimated 600 consumer collection point sites have been publicly confirmed, with no sites announced in Melbourne’s central business district;

(b) no meaningful communication has occurred with businesses on their disposal of containers, nor commercial agreements put in place to enable business who generate the bulk of container waste to dispose of containers in an environmentally friendly way;

(2) publicly state what the government intends to do with the additional charges collected from industry and the community that are not dispensed through the scheme; and

(3) consider the cost-of-living impact on consumers of a scheme that is designed to impose operational costs on the beverage industry, who will in turn pass those costs on to consumers.’.

If I may start in relation to the amendment by speaking to the first point, and that is the rollout of consumer point sites. We know that a container deposit scheme works if consumers are invested in taking part and they have a capacity to return the cans. Those are two of the most important principles, I would have thought, in making this scheme work – having community buy-in and having places in the community where those cans can be returned. As of Friday morning there was a commitment to 600 sites, and on Monday morning there was one publicly declared site. I felt terribly sorry for the Premier being forced out following that point being made publicly to announce the number of sites. The Premier was forced to go and clean up the chaos of this policy and announce the release on a Friday afternoon of the number of sites, to mop up the mess of this policy chaos. At the time roughly a third of the promised sites were then announced.

When those sites were announced, it came on the back of serious industry figures calling for a delay in the scheme, because industry experts knew that the delay in announcing sites would have an impact on the community take-up and confidence in the system. I refer to Jeff Angel from Boomerang Alliance, who is on the government’s own advisory group for the scheme – who is on the government’s own advisory group – who said on Friday:

I have concerns. For a state that said it was going to be the best in Australia and it had learnt the lessons from the other states. I don’t think that’s happened.

And further:

It’s a system of bad decision-making.

He then spoke shortly after the Premier’s announcement of a third of the sites and said:

… a lot of these locations are over-the-counter drop-offs … and they’re really not sufficient.

These are very powerful words from someone who is actually on the government’s own advisory committee. The Boomerang Alliance called for a delay in the scheme, a delay to make sure we get it right, so that the community could have buy-in in the way that it wants. The coalition has said for the longest time in this chamber that we not only supported the scheme, we pushed for it to become government policy first. It was I think the fourth speech I gave in this Parliament. The fourth speech I gave in this Parliament was about this scheme. It is something that many people agree on and support very, very passionately, and I have certainly been one of them. For five years it has been a matter that has been spoken about very strongly, so much so that the coalition announced a policy and was the first of the two major parties to do so. But I refer back to the Boomerang Alliance, who have made a number of comments. I will refer to a couple. In terms of the refund points, Mr Angel said that they have some issues with access to refund points because there are not enough. There are significant differences in quality and convenience of the points and that they do not want people to have a disappointing experience and be turned off participating.

These are all very valid concerns. People who have been invested in this policy for years are saying, on behalf of the community, that they want the scheme to succeed. We all want the scheme to succeed, but we have to acknowledge the government has completely stuffed this one up. That is the point here. I went to the CDS website about half an hour ago and had a look at where the current sites are, because the operator yesterday said to keep looking at the sites because opening hours change and are going to change. Some of the drop-off points may be removed altogether. Well, it has only been going for 24 hours and the CEO of VicReturn is telling people to look at the website because some of the too few drop-off points might be removed from the website – a day in. A day in and we are seeing the operators talk about removing too few sites.

In looking at the mapping, which is available on the website, we can see in Melbourne one ginormous vacant space where no sites are located – the City of Melbourne, where 160,000 people live. In South Melbourne, Port Melbourne and Southbank there are no sites at all. There would be the best part of 250,000 people living in that area –a quarter of a million, and well above that in terms of commuters coming into those places – where there is not a site for collection. You would think that at the very least someone would have looked at the proposed drop-off point locations and realised there were not enough and that things were not quite right – that they would have looked at the map and said ‘Gee, we can’t have none in the city. We can’t have none in the place where the most collections will occur, where the most beverages will be consumed’. So all of the businesses, all of the consumers, in effectively Melbourne have no site.

That map, I say, was printed about 45 minutes ago from the government’s website. In my region – my area and my adjacent area – in the suburb of St Kilda there is not a site. It will be interesting to see how many members on the other side note that their own communities have not got sites. Elwood in my electorate and Brighton – no sites. The communities of Brighton and Elwood – and St Kilda as well, who are neighbours of my electorate – are very environmentally minded people, and to not have a single site is frankly shameful. Across the road in Elsternwick, Caulfield, Caulfield South, Caulfield North, Armadale, Malvern, Glen Huntly, Ormond, Brighton East, Malvern East, Ashburton, Glen Iris – I could go on – none have a site. It is shocking to think that a government with so many years to roll out a policy have been unable to do so.

On this policy, from the government’s point of view in 2018 we effectively saw a collapse of our recycling system in Victoria, which was a concern for everybody. It was not a concern for one side of the chamber, it was a concern for everybody. In short, the overseas market in 2018 adopted a policy whereby they confirmed they would no longer accept our rubbish. That is probably the frank way of putting it – they would no longer take our rubbish. That affected us in Victoria, because roughly 46 per cent of all recycled paper and 65 per cent of all recycled plastic was previously exported and processed overseas, so almost half of our paper and two-thirds of our plastic. There was a full system issue in terms of how we managed recycling. By 2019 – and I am sure many members recall – the kerbside system in so many municipalities around this state effectively collapsed. We had about a third of our councils unable to process waste, and for that third, who represented a huge proportion of the population of the state, their recyclables were going to landfill, which no-one wanted. In 2018 there was an international decision. The government did nothing for a year. Within a year it affected the bulk of the municipalities in our state, so a third of the municipalities waste was going to landfill. By the way, the government had done nothing about it until a package was eventually announced after all of this waste was going to landfill.

Fast-forward another year before the government announced a recycling policy. So we had the international decision in 2018 and the collapse in 2019. In 2020 they had a glossy brochure announcement – no actual policy delivery, but a glossy brochure. At least they had done something: they announced with their brochure a commitment, following the coalition, to a container deposit scheme, as they should have. It should not have taken the time that it did, but nevertheless a scheme was then committed to, so two years almost from collapse to commitment.

How long has it taken from that point to actual delivery? Three years. It has almost taken five years from the international decision to no longer take our waste for the government to actually implement a container deposit scheme. I do note in the glossy announcement of 2020 the commitment by the government to introduce the scheme by 2022–23. We are in the absolute final days of 2023, so the government on its own commitment had to get its skates on to implement this policy. They did it at the eleventh hour. They certainly have not delivered it. They have commenced it; they certainly have not delivered it. I think any observer would say that. The government’s own policy announcement, which took two years to get into a glossy document, committed to a 2022–23 scheme, and three years on from that glossy document, we get to where we are today. I am sure I speak for every environmentally minded Victorian when I say how disappointed we are to see what the scheme is at its commencement. I referred to a number of comments earlier from a member of the government’s own advisory board who have said that the scheme is just not good enough and should have been delayed.

The other point that is raised in the reasoned amendment, which I have referred to, is the rollout of collection points, which is well underdone. The government committed to 600; we are at about half. Though I do note, as I mentioned, the operator themselves have said to keep checking the website, because they are going to be pulling some of those sites. There has also been no meaningful communication in relation to the business rollout. A consumer can take their can to one of the too few rollout sites, but businesses actually are the biggest collectors of these cans. So what should happen is you should have business arrangements in place where a business operator, like a pub or a club, can take their cans to a commercial site. There should be an arrangement in place so that those trucks full of cans can be taken there and the business gets their money back, acts in an environmentally responsible way and prevents those cans going to landfill, but those arrangements are not in place. It is just shameful. It is absolutely shameful that that would be the case, that we would be starting this and that businesses would not have those arrangements. In the government’s own writing they have confirmed to me that these arrangements are being finalised and will be agreed to over coming weeks. They have not even got the arrangements in place for businesses. So where the majority of the cans are being collected, there are no arrangements commercially in place for anything to happen with them. It is just shocking.

The other point that we raise in our amendment is the cost-of-living impact. We have seen over time the cost-of-living promises broken in relation to this scheme. I note that when the government first put out their materials in relation to this scheme, they talked about cost increases interstate of perhaps 7 cents or in Queensland 9 cents. Then the Victorian government confirmed that there would be a 12.5 cent increase on each item. One provider wrote to all commercial operators and said it will be at least 12.8 cents. Well, if you go to any major shopping business online, you will see that the cost on average is almost 15 cents.

Roma Britnell: And we’re hearing 30 cents.

James NEWBURY: There are instances being reported now of 30-cent increases on items. People are doing it tough, and 30-cent increases on each item are serious. When the minister was asked about it, he said ‘That’s not a matter for us’. Well, of course it is not. We know that the Labor Party, both federal and state, would not have any understanding of the cost-of-living impacts on people – and certainly no policies to assist them. But the minister said ‘This is not a matter for us’. So they implemented a policy that seriously impacts on cost of living and then said ‘This is not a matter for us’ and then more formally they have written to me and said ‘We’ll monitor beverage prices’. Well, you can keep watching, government, but we are saying to you, and the community is saying to you, that there have been serious price increases. It is not unreasonable for the government, which is implementing the policy and has made promises in relation to price increases, to be called out when those commitments have been proven to be false. The government said there would be a 12.5 cent increase. That is just factually wrong because in many instances the increase is more than double that. The government has to look at this policy and work out the cost-of-living impact, and that is why that part of the reasoned amendment is in place.

Victorians want to see this policy succeed. The coalition wants to see this policy succeed. We desperately want to see this succeed. We have been arguing for this policy to succeed for years and in this place calling for this policy to be implemented properly. But after almost five years we have a policy whose legal basis and financial basis still have not passed the Parliament, and the government is trying to rush it through, and whose implementation and rollout has been shown to be so substandard that experts are calling for the system to be delayed. It is a shameful embarrassment and another example of the chaos of this Labor government.

Nina TAYLOR (Albert Park) (10:41): It is a shame that the member for Brighton really is not keen on the container deposit scheme and the rollout. It is a real shame.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, it is unparliamentary to make attacks on other members, and the member knows that.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Brighton knows that imputations on members are disorderly. That was not necessarily an imputation on a member.

Nina TAYLOR: Thank you very much. Just for the record, it is evident that a million containers were returned just yesterday. I think that is a good thing. Is that a good thing? He thinks that is a bad thing. The member for Brighton does not like that. He does not think that is success. I think that is a good thing.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, the member is now defying your ruling, and I note the member has not yet referred to the fact that there is no collection point in her own electorate.

Members interjecting.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Without assistance, member for Frankston. There is no point of order.

Nina TAYLOR: Thank you very much. Also, I think it is strange that the opposition have a problem with the seat of Oakleigh. What is the problem with having a state launch in Oakleigh? Don’t the people of Oakleigh deserve that? Why does it have to be in the seat of Melbourne? I mean, I am confused as to why they have such opposition to this. I should say there were SES people, there were Sacred Heart students, there were Rotary club members, there were Scouts, there was the mayor, there were councillors – what is the problem? There is no problem. They are just jealous that they are not launching it. That is what all this kerfuffle is about; that is it, plain and simple. Anyway, let us move on. When we are talking about waste –

Members interjecting.

Nina TAYLOR: I will come back to the rollout. When we are talking about waste we know that it can be a negative or it can be a positive, but our government has been totally committed to delivering on the circular economy. It has been an accumulative process, and we are already seeing that. It is very important when we are talking about climate change that you can see all the organic waste facilities, those beautiful green bins. Councils are getting on board everywhere. It is really convenient. A circular economy is not just about one item. It is about managing the organic waste as well as those recyclable items. Why? Because we want to divert the majority of waste from landfill. We have a target of an 80 per cent reduction over the next 10 years, so all those elements matter. We do not just focus on one element.

Having said that, this bill is targeted at important administrative elements of CDS Vic to ensure the streamlining of this process into the future. It makes sense. And when we are looking at this whole system, it is also really good for jobs. We know that it is creating new economic opportunities. It will generate 645 jobs and turn drink containers into new recycled products. So I am a bit confused. I do not know why the opposition are trying to smear this whole thing, because Victorians are on it. They are with us on this journey. They want to be part of it, don’t they? They want to be part of it – otherwise they would not have returned a million containers yesterday, would they? They would have protested. They would have said we do not want to be a part of this. On the contrary, they are absolutely committed, so let us get on board and let us support them in this process rather than casting all these aspersions and really talking down the system and also all the important elements and jobs in it. We know it is really good for community organisations – for Scouts and other not-for-profits. It is a way of people working together. And the more you talk positively about it, the more you educate people about waste and how to manage their waste in a more sensible way. So you can see the positive domino effect on the side of the government.

To reflect on some of the comments made earlier, I am not sure about their position on waste, because if I remember correctly they just want to burn everything – no caps, just burn everything. So I am not sure if the member for Brighton really knows his party very well. From memory they were waste to energy all the way – never mind all the other stuff – whereas we are focused on really optimising the management of waste, because waste can be a good thing if it is managed correctly and if you divert as much as possible away from landfill. I am glad we have that consensus in here, because we have a holistic attitude to the management of waste.

What was I going to talk about? The rollout – that is right. We know that on 1 November CDS Vic launched – absolutely fabulous – and we know that there are over 200 sites across the state, with more coming on line. Yesterday was not the end of it. You would have thought from the speech of the member for Brighton that it was the beginning and end – it all had to happen in 24 hours, there was no possibility that there could be any further rolled out across the state. We have been very up-front about this, very transparent. So this is much ado about nothing, isn’t it? There will be more coming on line as we head towards the busy holiday period – just putting that in the chamber; we are very up-front about this – and within 12 months of the scheme starting the network operators are required to have a minimum of one collection point per 14,500 people in metro areas, at least one per town of 750 people in regional areas and at least one per town of 350 people in remote areas. But just to be clear: it is a rollout. It was never designed to all happen in one day. I think that there was a gross distortion of what a rollout is by the member for Brighton. They are called facts – we operate in facts on this side of the chamber. I cannot say the same about the speech that I heard earlier, which was much ado about this and that – opposition to the seat of Oakleigh and goodness knows what. It was very weird. But anyway, we are ignoring that because we are thinking about the people of Victoria, because they are on board with this. They are particularly passionate.

I do not know about you, but a million containers – a million! – has got to mean something. Doesn’t that mean something? If we just listened to the member for Brighton, we would have thought returning a million containers was a bad thing – that maybe they should not have. Should we have stopped them? Should we have said ‘Don’t recycle your items’? No. We are getting on board. We are encouraging Victorians to do that, noting everyone still has recycling bins – this is not the only mechanism for recycling – and we also have those purple bins as well, so you can separate glass from cardboard. I was on a waste inquiry a few years back, and what we found was that if you do not separate the cardboard from the glass the two go in together and it basically ruins both items, and then they have to go to landfill.

Victoria, contrary to what was stated earlier, has actually been all over this. We have taken definitive action. We are supporting local government to roll out a variety of mechanisms to ensure that the way waste is managed is absolutely optimised. I suggest that the opposition get on board with that. I have a sneaking suspicion that there are many people in the seat of Brighton who will be very keen to be part of recycling, because they are Victorian and they like to have the cleanest possible environment that they can have – in the seat of Oakleigh, in the seat of Albert Park and all over the state. But I put the caveat: we were absolutely transparent and up-front that it could never all be done in one day. To think that it could shows naivety. I am going to be kind in saying it is naivety – I could say it is something else – from the opposition.

I think they are just having a go for the sake of it because they are not rolling out this scheme. They cannot go out there and shout from the hilltops that they are rolling it out. But you know, them’s the breaks. That is what it is, and that is what Labor is all about; we are doing, we are delivering. I am very proud of this scheme, but I am very proud of the whole circular economy rollout. All aspects matter. They are all contributing – to jobs and also to reducing emissions. We know that landfill is a pathway to stench but also to decades and decades of land being unproductive and actually contaminated, so the whole focus is on looking at all of the various targeted mechanisms to convert waste to something that is actually good for Victoria.

Tim Richardson: ‘Just burn it.’

Nina TAYLOR: Don’t just burn it. There might be a bit of re-creation of history over there, but I remember people saying burn everything, which is not what we are about. We are about having balance and optimising the way we manage waste in Victoria. And go Oakleigh!

Martin CAMERON (Morwell) (10:51): It is with pleasure that I stand and talk on the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023. I think that the people of the Latrobe Valley are on board, and we have our environmental caps on. We recycle down there, believe it or not. We do recycle down there, and we do not burn everything, so it is actually great that we can stand up and talk about this. There is the contentious issue that everyone has been talking about, the container deposit scheme (CDS), which I will get onto later. But the actual bill has some amendments which I might read out to try to make a little bit of sense of the bill.

One of the things we spoke about before is that the scheme did launch yesterday but we are discussing the bill today. As a small business owner, like the member for Narracan, I think if we had come up with a scheme and rolled it out but it actually had not passed and become legislation, we would be shot down in flames and our idea, whatever it had been – collecting cans is what this one does – would not have gotten up off the ground. They have actually put the cart before the horse. There should be due process so we make sure that all boxes are ticked and everything is in place as we go forward.

The bill makes amendments to the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 and the Environment Protection Act 2017. The amendments to the Circular Economy Act impose operational costs of the Container Deposit Scheme regulator, Recycling Victoria (RV), on the beverage industry. So a lot of our pubs and clubs that get a lot of cans and bottles that need to be recycled have questions about where they stand now and how they should actually get their bottles and cans down to the collection point.

Being able to get refunds on our cans and bottles is a great thing. It has been going on for years over in South Australia. I remember as a young fella when Mum and Dad used to take us away on holidays it was a great thing to be able to get your soft drink cans and take them to the deposit recycling place to get your 10 cents back – or 15 cents back I think it was at some stage. Moving forward, the Scouts and Cubs and Girl Guides will be able to collect their cans from sporting events, whether they be football or cricket grand finals, and it will be a great way for them to be able to raise some funds and make sure our streets are clean. At the moment when we walk through our parks and we drive along our roads – I am not encouraging young kids to walk along the side of the road, with the cars going past – we do see cans and bottles that get tossed out of cars. Hopefully with this we can do it safely and we can have a cleaner environment.

It introduces the recovery of RV costs in administering the waste-to-energy scheme through new periodic licence fees; it establishes the Recycling Victoria Fund and special purpose operating accounts to transparently fund RV’s operation under CDS Vic and the waste-to-energy scheme; it grants the authority to set variable fees through regulations and applications for submissions under the act; and it aims to reduce operational risk for CDS Vic by clarifying earlier legislative provisions. It extends the powers of the protective services officers and Game Management Authority officers also. So the bill is not just about one particular part; it is wideranging and does cover a lot of policies going forward.

The 2020 policy included the following goals: a 15 per cent reduction in total waste generation per capita between 2020 and 2030; diversion of 80 per cent of waste from landfill by 2030 – I think everyone in the chamber is in agreement with these goals for what we can do; hopefully moving forward we can reach these targets – with an interim target of 72 per cent by 2025; cutting the volume of organic material going to landfill by 50 per cent between 2020 and 2030, with an interim target of a 20 per cent reduction by 2025; and 100 per cent of households having access to a separate food and organics recovery service or local composting by 2030. It may be rolled out here in the city, but it is starting to roll out through country Victoria. I am sure that, as astute environmental people in the bush, we will take all that on board.

In December 2021 the Parliament passed the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Bill 2021. The act brought about substantive reform of Victoria’s waste and recycling system. It also commenced the state’s transition to the circular economy. The initial bill created Recycling Victoria, which sits within the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action. Recycling Victoria commenced its operations in July 2022. There is a lot of other stuff that goes into it as well. As I said before, from contact through my office, via email and people ringing up and walking in, and generally if I am walking down the street, people are taking an interest in how the scheme is going to work with actually being able to walk in and get your money back on your cans and bottles. I am not sure a lot of people have taken on board where the stations are that they will be able to go into with their cans and bottles to redeem for their 10 cents. Eventually – not at the moment but eventually, hopefully, once the bill passes – there will be nine locations across the Latrobe Valley. We are going to have one in Churchill, one in Moe, two in Morwell, two in Newborough, two in Traralgon and one in Traralgon East.

One of the groups in Traralgon is Good Land Brewing Co. If you are ever passing by, make sure you call into Good Land Brewing and catch up with the team there. As a former Premier once said, it is a good place to get on the beers, up at Good Land Brewing Co. Not that we are encouraging drinking, but if you are going through and you would like to sample their product, please do so. What they have told me is so far the only communication they have received with regard to CDS is from what they have heard via other people and industry groups, which is not a lot on how it is going to work. We saw with the rollout and the launch yesterday that there was a little bit of confusion about where the sites were going to be and how it was all going to work. There is talk also that if the cans have been half crushed, they will not be accepted by the machines going forward. They are a little bit concerned about going to these machines and placing the cans in if the cans are slightly dented.

I know the member for Nepean sometimes, if he has a can, might crush it as he is drinking it, so maybe his can will not fit into the machine. A lot of people that are in their man caves and man sheds when they may have a drink on a Friday night crush their cans. If they crush their cans, they are not going to be accepted in these machines, so it is going to be a real education about how you have to go there with your vessel of happiness, as some of us call it, with your can or stubby, to get it put through the machine to get your 10 cents back. There is a bit of confusing and conflicting information. The website information is changing virtually hourly at the moment, with updates on what is open, what is not and how it is all going to work.

But as I said before, we are all on the same page in here. If we can collect our cans and bottles and be refunded, that is a great thing. On the flip side, though, the cost of purchasing your cans when you are in the supermarket or you go to a bottle shop or somewhere like that is going to go up, and stubbies also will go up. If we go to Uncle Dan’s for a visit, if it is Christmas time, to get a few bits and pieces, all the prices are going up, so it is going to have an impact on the cost of living. We like what is going on, but we need to see more.

Tim RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (11:01): It is great to get up and speak on the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023. The lid is off. We cannot contain our excitement in Victoria. We are no longer bottling it up about environmental action. The member for Brighton can try to can it, but we are up and about and ready to go. The member for Morwell at least made a really thoughtful contribution – a few more tin and beer references than I thought necessary, but that is good; we will get around it and get on the beers, as he mentioned. It was a thoughtful contribution that said there are some challenges. We want to see that ambition – not the member for Brighton, who would be grumpy on a beautiful sunny day down in Brighton. Seriously, he is talking down this policy when we have had a million containers that have been collected in 24 hours, an extraordinary result. Victorians are up and about. I did not know whether he was grumpy about the circular economy of Liberal leaders and candidates that get recycled. Do we get a deposit or refund? He is on the hook. Here we go.

Sam Groth: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, I am sure the member for Mordialloc will know what I am going to say. His contribution is not an opportunity to attack the opposition. It would be nice if he would just talk about the bill at hand.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Wayne Farnham): I bring the member back to the bill.

Tim RICHARDSON: A split second – he had the fastest serve and he had the fastest movement to get up on that point of order, didn’t he? I am looking forward to the member for Nepean’s contribution because environment policy is really a big interest on our peninsula and around Port Phillip Bay.

What an extraordinary contribution from the member for Brighton, who claimed that the container deposit scheme (CDS) was his idea. We saw this action all through the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee when I served alongside him. But it was the member for Brighton’s idea, and then he moves a reasoned amendment to kill the idea. It is an extraordinary day today as the Liberal’s and Nationals’ policy is to basically bin the container deposit scheme into perpetuity. That is on the back of huge positivity and aspirations from Victorians – 1 million containers collected. But on the environmental significance, as the Minister for Environment, who was on Ali Moore’s show yesterday and had a long-form interview – for anyone who wants to hear about how this works and the rollout, the minister did an outstanding job describing this – said, it could be up to a billion containers that are diverted from landfill, waste and impact. We know that by collecting cans in a particular way – and bottles as well – we have a greater likelihood of them being salvaged and recycled rather than being eventually stockpiled or going into landfill. To hear that description that it could be a billion is really welcome for all Victorians.

Now, 392 sites were stood up yesterday. If anyone heard the young chap who was at the press conference yesterday in Oakleigh – and I invite the member for Brighton down. I know it is a long trek. I know it is a different train line. I will even come and pick the member for Brighton up. Get amongst it in Oakleigh. You can come out to Chelsea, to the back of the Woolies car park. He will not have to go up against Felicity Frederico anymore; he can fund his own campaign just by collecting about 10,000 cans, and off he goes. No more boring Liberal Party branch fundraisers anymore. You can get amongst it with your cans, and off you go, on call.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, on relevance, the member has not even got to the point where he raises the lack of weight he has in his own party. He does not even have a collection point in his own community. He does not have a collection point in Mordialloc.

Tim RICHARDSON: Aspendale.

James Newbury: There is not one in Aspendale. I have just looked on the website: Mordialloc, Aspendale – nothing.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Wayne Farnham): Member for Brighton, what was your point of order?

James Newbury: Relevance.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Wayne Farnham): There is no point of order.

Tim RICHARDSON: There is an open invitation to my bayside colleague the member for Brighton. In Chelsea, out the back of Woolies, is a great collection point. Apparently they were lining up back to Bonbeach – that was how much excitement there was. Braeside has never been so busy down Malcolm Road. I have seen people lining up to take their cans and bottles. Some are coming up with bags full of the stuff. Aspendale Gardens has another collection site. I mean, it is going off in the City of Kingston.

People who live in our community, which I share with the member for Carrum and Minister for Planning, and our beachside patrol groups do an extraordinary job. But each and every time we come up to summer our place gets absolutely smashed with bottles and cans left in our waterways the Mordialloc Creek and the Patterson River and then out in the bay, and the impact is substantial on the environment. Anyone that has gone through the I Sea, I Care program with our students will have heard the passion and energy with which they talk about recycling as well. We know that bottles take 1000 years to break down, and just recently with the Mordialloc Freeway construction we put 200 million recycled bottles into the road. But it would be better if we had a better use than them being in our waterways and diverted them into projects and other community uses and to being recycled and re-used. It takes an extremely long time for plastic bottles, glass and cans to break down, so this is a really important policy that has all the aspiration.

I was just so disappointed in the member for Brighton. I thought this was a moment to get up and about – 392 sites. I mean, the member for Brighton took the literal Mordialloc electorate as a reference point but then failed in the fact that there are four in my area that have been established. Look, it is only a 25-minute drive. I went through the other day. I know that the member for Brighton is so keen. He must have a treasure trove of cans and bottles, and that is what it is really about. It is really about ‘Look at me. I want one too. I just want the selfie to say it was my idea five years ago. I want to get in front of one of those blue machines. I’ve got a bit of relevance deprivation, and I want to be able to say I came up with it and it was mine.’ But the one fundamental thing is to then come in and try to kill the CDS. To kill the CDS and bin it now is a really disappointing policy. It is a really disappointing approach. To verbal the Boomerang Alliance – I heard that interview, and it was positive aspiration. Yes, there is more rollout to go, but that is what happens with a rollout; that is the definition. When you have not had the opportunity to roll something out for nearly a decade, because you have not been in government, you might lose a bit of muscle memory on what a rollout looks like. When they were in government their environment policy was vacant. Remember the office of living it up? That was the environment policy from the Leader of the Nationals. What is their policy now, which the member for Brighton leads? ‘Oh, has anyone got any matches? Can we just light it on fire?’ That is literally their environmental policy – put it in and burn it. To just literally light it on fire is their environmental policy.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, personal reflections are unparliamentary.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Wayne Farnham): I will ask the member, who has strayed a bit, to please come back to the bill.

Tim RICHARDSON: I think it is relevant to why they have brought in a reasoned amendment. On the entire environmental policy and its make-up, with something that is so significant, the contrasting policy of the coalition is to burn waste. It is literally to burn waste and bin the CDS. That is literally what this does. I know that those opposite had learned friends in legal positions, like the former member for Kew, who was their Shadow Attorney-General. But they come in here and say, ‘We’ll rely on the legal advice of the member for Brighton, rather than the solicitor-general and the department representatives, on where the legals go on this particular legislation.’ I mean, I know that there are a lot of tickets on the member for Brighton, but seriously? I think, our learned friend over there, we will take our advice from the department representatives, we will take our advice from the sector and we will be led by the solicitor-general. Let us go back to first principles – 392 sites.

Roma Britnell interjected.

Tim RICHARDSON: Member for South-West Coast, you will get a chance. You will get a chance to get up soon. But there are 392 sites. You can try to talk down a fantastic aspirational policy that polls off the Richter scale with Victorians. They are so up and about for this that we had a million cans, containers and bottles yesterday. That is how strongly endorsed this policy is. The member for Brighton can talk this policy down; the member for Brighton gets grumpy on a sunny day. The member for Brighton is absolutely false on this, because Victorians have shown their absolute determination to recycle. It was one of the most amazing things, the feedback that we got from our local community on the aspiration of this policy – the excitement – and then the young Victorian students with the I Sea I Care program were so amazing.

James Newbury interjected.

Tim RICHARDSON: Well, they are not going to Brighton, mate. They are staying in our local community with the rollout of this policy. So 392 sites, over a million containers – and there will be a billion over a year – is the extraordinary success of this policy. Those opposite can talk down the container deposit scheme. After saying that they were all for it, they are now trying to kill it. Their entire policy on the environment, on the challenges that we face in biodiversity and the challenges that we face in climate action, is literally to go to the kitchen cabinet, get a box of matches and light waste on fire. That is literally the intellect that they bring to this debate in the serious circumstances we find ourselves, with the impact on biodiversity and the impact on our natural environment. On this side we have a huge record and legacy of environmental action and taking action on climate change. This government has set about establishing a wonderful scheme. It is exciting, it is aspirational and it is purposeful. Victorians are so excited and up and about. They cannot wait. To the member for Brighton: stay in touch.

David SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (11:11): I rise to make some comments on the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023. Can I say at the outset that this was going to be one of the best recycling projects since sliced bread. This was absolutely awesome. I can recall as a little fella going down to Moorabbin and watching the Saints with my bag of cans all squashed up so I could fit them all in a big bag, take them up and get my money for my pies and whatever else I got at the footy on a Saturday. It was the best thing to go around with your mates collecting cans and away you went. I reckon, from memory, that was probably – I am not wanting to give my age away – about 30 years ago.

James Newbury: 35-year-old David.

David SOUTHWICK: Thanks very much, member for Brighton. Thirty years on you would reckon, with all the technology and everything else we have going in the world, that you would have almost robots to collect these things. But what have we got now? You cannot squash the cans. You have got to have full cans because the readers do not read them. I cannot believe that we have got a system that is back to the future some 30, 40 years. I mean, this is next-level ridiculous. The fact is that we have got a government that has had all of this time to get a program right –

James Newbury: Nearly five years.

David SOUTHWICK: nearly five years, as the member for Brighton says, to ensure we have got a container deposit scheme that works – and like everything else that they do, they mess it up. They are absolutely poor with execution. Let me remind this chamber that it was the Liberal–Nationals that came up with this scheme. It was the Liberal–Nationals that said ‘Let’s bring a recycling program together. Let’s bring it to the market. Let’s ensure that we get people to think about how we recycle, how we do it. Let’s take up a proper recycling program, along with a waste-to-energy program.’ There was also a great initiative around waste to energy. Again, where has that gone? Nowhere. The government set up an independent review to have a look at this and left it on the shelf along with so many other ideas. There are some great opportunities with energy, when we have got a cost-of-living crisis, to have a waste-to-energy program and recycling, like with a container program – to have a good program. But, like everything, it is all in the detail. It is all in the execution. It is all about getting these things right.

The member for Brighton has a number of amendments which he has suggested today, and they are very, very good. They go to the core of publicly releasing an update on the progress of the rollout of the container deposit scheme, noting that only half of the estimated 600 collection point sites have been publicly confirmed, with no sites announced in Melbourne’s CBD. Well, along with none in the CBD, there are none in my area either. I can tell you the constituency in Caulfield and in Elsternwick, who absolutely are champions for the environment, would love this stuff in spades. Our local schools would get on board with this, and there is absolutely nothing in Elsternwick, nothing in Caulfield and nothing in Caulfield North, St Kilda, Brighton or Caulfield South. I mean, these schools would be lapping this up. We could run an environmental program with all of these schools. I know Caulfield South Primary, Caulfield Junior College, Caulfield Primary School, Ripponlea Primary – all of these schools would actually get on board and do this program, but where will they take their cans? Where will they take them? First of all, they cannot crush them, so they will need a truck, a semi, to actually put the cans in the back. Then they will have to drive them God knows where to actually get them counted. There would be more cost to the environment in actually getting the containers somewhere in fuel, in all of the logistics to this, than what it would be in saving the environment. So again it is about the detail – it is about getting the detail right. It is so disappointing.

There are other states that are doing this kind of stuff. New South Wales is doing a fantastic job. This did not happen yesterday. We have got programs that have been implemented for so long – for five years. We have been talking about this for five years. I cannot believe it. We have got other states, and every single time this government does not go over the border and learn about how New South Wales have done things, like everything that we have done. We have spoken even about a fuel app so people can save money with fuel – they will not learn from that. We have spoken about public transport apps, and they do not learn from that. We go and reinvent the wheel here, and we do it poorly and we all miss out. Who loses out? Victorians lose out. Consumers lose out. Every single time consumers miss out. They pay more and they get less in a cost-of-living crisis. Consumers miss out.

Here is an opportunity where we could be doing more for the environment. We could be doing more for the hip pocket in terms of money into consumers’ pockets, but instead it has failed. Already the container deposit facilities are bursting at the seams. They are done. They are not working properly, and it has only been 5 minutes since they have been rolled out. We have got, as we say, gaps in areas like Elsternwick, Caulfield, Caulfield South, Ripponlea, which have a huge hole in them – nowhere at all to take your cans. The member for Brighton also has as part of his amendment:

(b) no meaningful communication has occurred with businesses on their disposal of containers, nor commercial agreements put in place to enable business who generate the bulk of container waste to dispose of containers in an environmentally friendly way …

It is about consultation. It is about working with stakeholders. It is about working with business and industry groups. If you are going to be able to have success, you have to get people on board, and none of this has happened. Point (2) of this amendment:

publicly state what the government intends to do with the additional charges collected from industry and the community that are not dispensed through the scheme …

There will be some people who will not take the money back, who will not use the money, so that money will sit there – a great opportunity to pump that into environmental programs, a great opportunity to ensure we are doing more for the environment.

What do you reckon this government is going to do with that extra money? Straight in their hip pockets, straight into consolidated revenue, straight to filling the big black hole of debt that Victoria has through waste and mismanagement. That is what this government will do. They will not help the environment. They are all talk and no action when it comes to the environment. They are all about headlines and not about detail when it comes to the environment, and again the environment misses out, Victorians miss out and we all pay more for the government’s waste and mismanagement. Victorians all pay more for Labor’s waste and mismanagement; it is very, very simple. The government are so reckless with money, they are so reckless with expenditure, all they do is about a headline and nothing about detail. If you want to see a complete lack of detail, have a look at this container management scheme disaster. It is a disaster – it is an absolute disaster. Five years to get it right, and they still do not have places to be able to –

Roma Britnell: Legislation’s not been passed.

David SOUTHWICK: No legislation. There is nothing. It is a complete shambolic mess. The last part of all of this, which goes to the core:

consider the cost-of-living impact on consumers of a scheme that is designed to impose operational costs on the beverage industry, who will in turn pass those costs on to consumers.

We have got to make sure consumers do not pay more in a cost-of-living crisis. We have got to do this better, and they have not done so.

In the last minute or so remaining, specifically when we are talking about waste and the environment, one of my interns, Mary Coustas from the Australian Catholic University, did a fantastic report, “What a Waste”: A Circular Economy Lens for Textile Waste and Textile Recycling in Victoria. This looks at what we can do so Victoria can be the leader, because fashion is a key element of what we do but fast fashion is costing the environment and it is costing the taxpayer. What Mary looked at doing was looking at some great opportunities for Victoria. Let us hope this does not sit on the shelf for five-plus years but that the government look at this and look at ways of ensuring we do more with our waste around fashion – things like investing in data collection and green social procurement using recycled textile, utilising existing consortiums like Melbourne Fashion Week to enhance their ideas about promotion and funding high-quality output of closed-loop chemical recycling projects. They are great ideas, and it is a great report that Mary did. Mary goes to a Catholic university. A big shout-out for the parliamentary internship program – it does some really, really good work in this space.

These are great opportunities; Victoria should be leading the way. These are really good ideas. I am glad that the Liberal–Nationals have come up with these ideas, but as I said, it is all about execution. The government have failed in executing what we have got in front of us today. The government need to get this right for the sake of Victorians in a cost-of-living crisis and for the sake of the environment, to ensure we get better programs to save the environment and ensure more sustainability for Victoria.

Dylan WIGHT (Tarneit) (11:21): It gives me great pleasure this morning to rise and contribute to the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023. May I just say at the outset, Acting Speaker Farnham, it is great to see you in the big chair there, and you are doing a great job, mate. You are doing a great job, which is far more than I can say for the member for Brighton, who walked into this place this morning and moved a reasoned amendment to absolutely kill Victoria’s container deposit scheme. It absolutely baffles me why. The member for Brighton represents a community that is environmentally conscious, as the vast majority of Victorians are, and he walked into Parliament this morning and moved a reasoned amendment that is designed to do nothing more than kill this scheme. The member for Brighton spent a long, long time over summer, and I understand why, reading the standing orders. I think the member for Brighton should have spent a little bit of time, before he walked into this place, reading what the definition of a rollout is. 392 sites are open in Victoria already, on our way to 600. The member for Caulfield just spoke about schemes in New South Wales. Let me tell you, at the launch of the New South Wales scheme there were 220 sites open – only 220. We have rolled out 392. This scheme is fantastic. It is going to be fantastic for Victorians, fantastic for our environment and fantastic for the cost of living as well.

We on this side of the chamber have a steadfast dedication to fostering a circular economy right here in Victoria. It would be remiss of me to not mention some businesses very close to my community in Tarneit, just across the road in Werribee South – in fact in the member for Point Cook’s electorate. There is a business there called Fresh Select. They supply about 80 per cent of Victoria’s lettuce. If you buy a lettuce from Coles, you have bought it from Fresh Select. They had a situation in recent years where they had an incredible amount of food waste. There would be products that they would harvest that were not suitable to go to Coles, whether that be broccoli, whether that be carrots, pumpkin, lettuce or whatever it may be. What they did was create a system and a manufacturing facility where they could get all of that excess harvest that they were not able to send to Coles, and they created a new business called Nutri V.

Sam Groth: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, I am sure Fresh Select do an amazing job and they have created an amazing scheme, but I am not sure what that has to do with the bill in front of us and the container deposit scheme. It is on relevance, Acting Speaker.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Wayne Farnham): I would ask the member to come back to the bill. You have gone little bit wide from what has been discussed so far.

Dylan WIGHT: I am talking about the circular economy, something that we on this side of the chamber care about and those on the other side do not. Anyway, back to my point, Nutri V and Fresh Select do an absolutely amazing job. If you go into Coles, you will be able to pick up some Nutri V off the shelf. I think it has got a couple of serves of vegetables in each packet.

A member interjected.

Dylan WIGHT: The member for Nepean can get his vegetable intake up. But, anyway, as I was talking about, we on this side of the chamber have an absolutely steadfast commitment to fostering a circular economy right here in Victoria, aiming to create job opportunities, further our climate change objectives and offer a dependable recycling framework for all Victorians. Since unveiling our circular economy strategy, Recycling Victoria: A New Economy, in February 2020 there has been a transformative shift in the state’s waste and recycling domain, bolstering the efficacy and quality of life in both urban and regional areas. We have made commendable strides in fulfilling the pledge outlined in Recycling Victoria: A New Economy, with the structures laid out in the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 serving as a foundation. Following this, the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Act 2022 was enacted, enriching the circular economy act with additional pivotal policies. This legislation also paved the way for Victoria’s waste-to-energy initiative, setting an annual limit of waste that thermal waste-to-energy facilities can process in the state, coupled with a corresponding licensing system.

I think we should probably at this point get to the container deposit scheme, as I am halfway through my contribution. As I said at the outset, 392 sites are open already. This is a rollout – 392 sites on the way to 600. As I said, that is compared to 220 sites when New South Wales opened their scheme some time ago. In my community we have been incredibly lucky to have three sites across both Hoppers Crossing and Tarneit. At the site at Tarneit West shopping centre, which is quite close to where I live in my community, we have a reverse vending machine, so a fully automated service where members of our community, where sporting clubs and where community organisations can take their recycling and can go and use our new container deposit scheme. Whether that be for fundraising for community sporting clubs or just to help with cost of living, with shopping vouchers or the like, it is an absolutely amazing opportunity for my community and one that I know will be used a whole lot.

Hoppers Crossing has not missed out – I obviously represent Tarneit and Hoppers Crossing. Hoppers Crossing has not missed out at all. In fact I think I said there are two in Hoppers Crossing; there are three sites in Hoppers Crossing for those members of my community to use. I know, because of the correspondence that has come through my office, how excited those members of my community in Tarneit and Hoppers Crossing are to use our new container deposit scheme. It is an environmental initiative, as we have said, and it is designed to encourage the recycling of certain drink containers, reducing litter and waste destined for landfill. Under the CDS, consumers pay a small additional deposit when purchasing beverages in recyclable containers, but obviously they can redeem that when they access the scheme and when they access those deposit points. By providing a financial incentive, the scheme motivates individuals to collect and return containers, recycling and decreasing the volume of beverage container litter.

We are obviously not the first jurisdiction in Australia to do this, but we are rolling it out as we speak. The reason that we are doing that is because we know that it works. We can look at several jurisdictions, not just in Australia but around the world, that have similar schemes, and we know that they work. Finland, for instance, has had a deposit scheme for glass bottles since 1950, aluminium cans since 1996 and plastic bottles since 2018. In 2015 they saw return rates between 89 and 95 per cent. Think about all of that waste not going to landfill – between 89 and 95 per cent; that is significant. In the Faroe Islands a deposit scheme for disposable packaging has been in effect since 2007. Their scheme recovers glass, aluminium and plastic and achieves a 90 per cent return rate. Of course in South Australia, which is probably the jurisdiction in Australia that we all think about when we think about a container deposit scheme, a container deposit scheme has been in place since 1977. In South Australia they saw an overall return rate of 76 per cent in 2022–23. Just over the border beverage containers make up only 2.8 per cent of litter because of this refund scheme. We know that container deposit schemes work. That is why we have worked so hard to create the one that we are speaking about in Parliament today. We will continue the rollout from 392 to 600 deposit points. I commend the bill to the house.

Roma BRITNELL (South-West Coast) (11:31): I rise to speak on the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023. This bill puts the finishing touches on some of the work that has been in play for some time. The government is rolling out under this the container deposit scheme. What we are seeing is the setting up of things like the Recycling Victoria Fund with special purpose operating accounts to make sure the funds are able to be utilised and some contracts getting finalised for the rollout of this program.

Today is day two of the scheme. Yesterday the scheme began, yet here we are still putting the finishing touches on the legislation that will enable this to occur. What that smacks of, for me, is a government being disorganised but having had many years to get organised. This is just another example – this week has seen a number of them – so it is no surprise. We really do support a container deposit scheme, and we have done, as evidenced by the fact that we came out with a policy prior to this government’s – before the last election – supporting the scheme. That demonstrates our commitment to a container deposit scheme. But what I see are some real flaws in this circular economy situation that the government is putting forward, because it actually does not reflect the best opportunity for consumers, and I worry about the opportunity it actually presents more for government.

I was in Portland last Friday – and Warrnambool, obviously, where my electorate is – talking to a number of businesses. In Portland I spoke with Michael Pickles. Michael is one of the local publicans there. This was less than a week ago. Michael was explaining to me that he had had no communication on how this scheme would be implemented from his business’s perspective – how he would be able to participate in making sure the environment benefits from less cans and bottles going into landfill. He had had no communication – except from the beverage people that sell him the products, telling him that they would go up by 12.85 cents per bottle or can. That is a cost that he needs to be able to recover, but he had no information on the system in place for him to do so. There was nowhere in Portland listed at that point for him to use. Since then a reverse deposit place has been identified – as a pop-up – in Portland. They can access that from 10 until 3 on Thursday – which is today – from 10 until 3 tomorrow and from 9 until 5 on Friday. The website does not tell me whether that is going to continue next week or not. There are just those three days – no date – and we do not understand what that actually means other than today, tomorrow and the next day.

Michael also told me that he has got to go there. And this is a pub, this is a hotel venue – he is not going to have one rubbish bag full of containers of Coke cans and beer bottles. He has got a trailer load of stuff that he had ready to go, but he is going to have to put them one by one in the vending machine. Now, if anything is crushed, he cannot put it in. So we have just got to go back and reshape everybody’s brains for the last 30 years of crushing cans to fit more effectively waste together in a spot for recycling. We have got to reshape people’s thinking and undo all that training and tell them not to crush cans.

Getting back to Michael, he explained to me that for him to take rubbish to the tip costs him $250 a tonne. For him to take it to the recycling place costs him $280 a tonne. Now, this is prior to him getting any money back, and he does not know whether he will, because he is not sure what contracts are in place and how he can access this scheme. Clearly he cannot go and put it in a vending machine. So what do we do? I spoke to restaurateurs and I spoke to cafes, and there is just no understanding. I get that there will be, but this started yesterday. Yesterday the consumer walks into a restaurant or a cafe and pays maybe 12.5 cents more – which is what the government said, but I have not seen any evidence of that, as everything has been 12.85 cents or 14 cents. Danielle Shepherd sent me some receipts yesterday. She showed me her receipts from January when she bought some Coke in the supermarket, and yesterday she sent me the picture of the price, which had gone up 14 cents per can. So in a cost-of-living crisis we are asking the consumer to pay more, yet 80 per cent – using the Queensland example – of available recyclable material ends up not in the scheme. So only 20 per cent is going to the scheme. But Michael told me from the maths he has done $6 million a week will be raised in revenue. It is effectively a tax if only 20 per cent is going to go back to that consumer. Because I am not going to go into the pub next week with my backpack and ask for the bottles and put them in my backpack and then head out to the container deposit scheme. So the publican, if he has something in place, is going to have to work out how he charges to get that money back.

The system is so poorly designed that if only 20 per cent goes back through this scheme, then on the maths of $6 million a week, that will be $300 million a year. So over the forward estimates, if only 20 per cent goes back in, which uses the Queensland example for figures, then that is $1 billion raised for government in revenue. We have seen the government take from schemes like the TAC scheme, which they raided because their black hole of debt was getting greater and greater, so it worries me that there is $1 billion there that the government will take which the consumers have paid when they have gone into a restaurant or gone into a bar and hoped that the environment would be better off because of that 10 cents – which is not 10 cents, it is at least 12, 14 or up to 30 cents we are hearing today.

The environment is not going to be the beneficiary. This scheme, set up under this legislation, puts an account aside so the environment can benefit, but I am not seeing the guarantee that the benefit will go to the environment. As I pointed out with the TAC example, the people who should be benefiting from that TAC money fund that grew and grew were not benefiting when the government stole money from that and did not give it to people who should be benefiting on pensions and the like, who have been affected by traffic accidents. So the government are really putting in place a tax, because if it is meant to go back to the environment, why would it not be ready today? Why would all the communication that should have taken place with restaurateurs, publicans and all the others who cannot use the reverse vending machines – clearly, because of the amount of material that they will bring in – not have been all set up?

That brings me to households. Cost of living is a really big issue for households. When I put my bottles and cans in my purple or yellow bin, as the member for Albert Park pointed out, I have actually paid my rates, and those rates go to the council and the council pay for the rubbish removal. So somebody will get that rubbish from my yellow bin and my purple bin and be able to get the refund of the 10 cents per bottle. I worked out that if there are 200 stubbies in my yellow bin, over a period of some time, that will end up being around $200 to $500 a year, and that is a lot of money for households. So is that rebate going to come back to the community members who are doing their best recycling? This container deposit scheme and this circular economy should be looking at the picture that gets all those bottles and all those cans incentivised back to the consumers who are paying for it.

The government have done this little bitzer approach. I know that the Scouts will love it, and I think that is fantastic. I am pretty sure my little grandson is going to get out there and try and get many bottles to get his 10 cents – I can see it. That is great. But let us make sure the circular economy that is being spoken about is the true beneficiary. The consumer and the environment need to be working hand in glove to make sure that we get the outcome we are looking for. There is no point in putting this legislation through if it does not look clearly at a circular economy and have a real effect on the environment. The consumer wants to help – they will pay the extra as long as it benefits the environment. But if Michael Pickles from Portland, who is running a pub, is unable to make sure that gets into the scheme or back into recycling or the consumer in the household who is doing the right thing with the yellow and purple bins does not get the benefit, this is not helping the environment; this is charging the consumer more and not benefiting the environment.

I support the bill and I support the reasoned amendment put forward by the member for Brighton. The genuine need is for us to incentivise our community to improve the environment, not tax the consumer, making it more difficult during a cost-of-living crisis for households to make ends meet in the farcical smoke-and-mirrors way of these sorts of bills that are put forward by the government with no learnings from New South Wales and South Australia – South Australia has been doing it for 40 years – that they could have adopted. Instead they are arrogantly rolling it out and it is not ready, as many have said.

Kathleen MATTHEWS-WARD (Broadmeadows) (11:41): I really cannot tell you how excited I am about the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023.

A member interjected.

Kathleen MATTHEWS-WARD: No, I really cannot. I have been waiting a long time for this container deposit scheme (CDS), so it is really exciting for it to have started yesterday. It is not everyone’s cup of tea, but waste reduction in particular is a real passion of mine. In fact my house is often a transfer station, finding appropriate homes for things that friends and family do not want anymore. Mum is always giving me things – ‘Oh, you can give that to one of your friends.’ It does drive my husband crazy. It also drives him crazy when I rescue things from the hard rubbish collection.

On that note, this is a good opportunity to shout out to our Hard Rubbish Rescue Merri-bek and Hume Facebook communities. They are my very favourite Facebook groups. Hard Rubbish Rescue Merri-bek now has an incredible 30,000 members, and I would like to thank the wonderful Vaissy Dasler for her work on this and for running the fabulous Nourishing Neighbours food relief, and all the volunteers who help her. There are also generous groups like St Kilda Mums and Big Group Hug, where dedicated volunteers make sure that mums and bubs have the equipment they need. The circular economy is absolutely where the future is heading and where jobs are. It is so good for the environment and so good for the cost of living.

My staff and kids will tell you how finicky I am about people putting things in the right bins, including my daughter, who lost her phone for a week because she could not take the time to choose the correct bin. So I am truly delighted that from yesterday we have a container deposit scheme in Victoria: 10 cents for every can, plastic or glass bottle and even Big M milk cartons. They have to have the 10-cent refund sign on them, so not 2-litre milk cartons or wine bottles, but 10 cents for the ones that we most often see littering our beautiful parks and waterways. Do not crush the cans, and it is best to keep the lids on because they can be recycled too. Then take them to your nearest refund point.

In Broadmeadows we have plenty of collection points, and more will be rolled out. We have a reverse vending machine at the Campbellfield shopping centre, in the Roxy shopping centre car park and one at 13 Domain Street, behind the East Street shops. There is a walk-through or drive-through depot collection point at 13 Fordson Road, Campbellfield, operated by the social enterprise Green Collect, and plenty of over-the-counter collection points: the convenience store at 85 Kyabram Street, Coolaroo; Olsen Place TattsLotto, next to the pharmacy; the fabulous little IGA in Major Road, Fawkner; the grocer with the best ciabatta in Victoria in North Street, Hadfield; the friendly Glenroy Newsagency, who I also thank for their support in the post office campaign we have been running in Glenroy – they are hoping to become a postal agent in Glenroy, which would be fabulous for our community, who have been left without a post office; and the milk bar in Ridgeway Avenue, Glenroy. I have really fond memories of going to this milk bar as a kid. We spent many a summer day walking there, handing over our 5-cent bottles – I think that was about 40 years ago – and then taking an eternity to choose mixed lollies or buy a Sunnyboy or a Bubble O’Bill. We would normally have finished our treats before the Hewitts’ terrier with an underbite would terrorise us at the end of the laneway.

Not only did we return our bottles, but I remember collecting cans and taking them up to Sims Metal in Campbellfield. One time we were in the old Ford Falcon station wagon with the wind-down window in the back, loaded up with cans and scrap metal, driving along Sydney Road, when a massive huntsman crawled out of a can and ran across the windscreen, frightening the life out of all of us. But Mum kept her cool, even surrounded by all the trucks that were on Sydney Road in those days, and got us safely to Sims. Worse was in Queensland, where my cousin found a tree snake curled up in her collection bin. Anyway, I will be thinking of spider- and snake-free ways to collect my cans and bottles to get the 10 cents.

I am really excited that the system allows us to choose a charity, a school or a club to donate our refunds to. This will be an absolute game changer for many local organisations. There are over 300 donation patrons so far, including Scouts, Beyond Blue, Dachshund Rescue and Tiny Pride, and I encourage all local sporting clubs, schools, clubs and charities to sign up. When I was up in Queensland with my friends the Robinas, finding a bottle or can was like finding gold for the kids, and they raised a massive amount for their local charity. There was hardly any litter to speak of. It made an extraordinary difference in Queensland and Victoria, where there was just no litter on the streets. It breaks my heart to see our parks and streets and especially our creeks and waterways filled with so much litter – so many water bottles floating around. I am so glad our local government is bringing in this scheme, and I thank the current and former ministers for environment for their work on this. My little friend and recycling champion Cooper, whose mum is in the gallery, from Glenroy West Primary was so excited last night to get his 10 cents at a reverse vending machine. He is saving up for a Nintendo Switch game – be like Cooper.

The scheme will generate more than 600 jobs statewide and turn used drink containers into new recycled products, and this legislation will mean it does not cost taxpayers a thing. The scheme is fully covered by the drink industry, and that is why I do not support the amendment that the Liberal Party has put forward. The further information requested goes to communications and not to the substance of the legislative framework. Further, there is good information already available to members of the public and businesses through the scheme website, the scheme coordinator and zone operators, including a map of all refund points. I was looking at the website this morning, and it is actually really fabulous information. There are 392 refund points open to the public on day one of the scheme, and there are more coming. We have engaged businesses throughout the development of Victoria’s container deposit scheme through a CDS advisory group that included the Australian Hotels Association, the Australian Industry Group, the Australian Retailers Association, the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Boomerang Alliance. One million containers recycled in one day shows the success of this rollout and speaks for itself.

CDS Victoria is designed to ensure that the beverage industry meets the full cost of the scheme – and why should they not – including providing the 10-cent refund back to consumers and also other scheme costs, including scheme infrastructure and logistics, and audit and financial management, in line with the principles of extended producer responsibility. There is no ongoing accumulation of funds. This is no surprise and is consistent with other jurisdictions. The overall cost impact of the scheme on consumers is expected to be modest. Price rises witnessed in other states have been small and less then 10 cents. The Victorian government will monitor any price rises, and when Victorians return their empty drink containers, they will receive a 10-cent refund for every container returned.

The bill will amend the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 to include a cost recovery mechanism to ensure that the beverage industry will bear the scheme cost entirely, in line with the principle of extended producer responsibility. This means that first suppliers of beverages in the container deposit scheme will bear the entire cost for managing beverage containers across their life cycle, taking responsibility for the packaging. The bill also establishes the Recycling Victoria Fund, without which any fees paid to Recycle Victoria through the container deposit scheme and waste-to-energy scheme would have gone into the state’s consolidated revenue. Instead a dedicated account will provide a more efficient, transparent and accountable mechanism to demonstrate that funds collected from the scheme participants are only used to recover the state’s cost in administering and overseeing the scheme.

This is important for extended producer responsibility schemes such as CDS Vic, which is intended to function as a closed financial loop. The beverage industry participants funding the scheme will expect the industry contributions to be directed solely to the scheme. Creating a dedicated account for this purpose will assure the industry that funds are being managed and used in line with their expectations. I cannot tell you how pleased I am to hear that the legislation will also enable more litter enforcement. Littering is a pet hate of mine. It is so lazy, so disrespectful and so selfish. It shows such little regard for others, for the environment and for the community, and I cannot tell you how happy I am that more people will be penalised for it.

The bill will introduce amendments to the Environment Protection Act 2017 to provide that the EPA is not required to automatically release a financial assurance when property or a permission is no longer held or a notice or order no longer applies to the person who provided the assurance following a liquidator’s disclaimer or other event if environmental and financial risk still exist. This power will protect the EPA and the state of Victoria’s taxpayers from bearing clean-up costs when remediation is still needed. It will ensure that recipients of remedial costs can recover costs from polluters in all circumstances for which a notice can be issued. The polluter should pay, and this change in the legislation will enable that. At present a person issued with an environmental action notice or site management order by the EPA cannot recover any costs from a person who causes pollution, except in the case of contaminated land, which does not support the polluter-pays principle specified in the Environment Protection Act. The bill will also amend the act to ensure the EPA can delegate its powers and functions conferred under other acts.

Jade BENHAM (Mildura) (11:51): Acting Speaker Farnham, might I say before I begin what an absolute joy it is to see you sitting in the chair. You are doing a terrific job. It is also my pleasure to rise to speak on the container deposit scheme and the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023. Do you know what? I had so many puns planned – I really did, because I love a pun, almost as much as I love a sports analogy – and the member for Mordialloc stole them all, so I have had to quickly just rejig what I was going to say. But I am sure that none of us can contain our excitement. Well, there is one – contain our excitement. I have heard ‘Put it in the bin’ and all these other things. The best one I heard, may I say, was from the member for Morwell, who described a bottle that you can recycle as a ‘vessel of happiness’. I am sure we can all identify with that.

I have been listening to a lot of the contributions being made on this bill, and the member for Morwell, as well as being highly entertaining, also made some very, very good points. This did have potential, and the community were very excited about the container deposit scheme in our electorate, but it is not without its challenges. We only have five collection points in the 37,500 square kilometres of my electorate, which makes things a little bit challenging. One of our main collection points yesterday was having some teething issues on day one with the network operator, but apparently the other one on the other side of town was operating. So there are just some communication issues, and I am sure that will work itself out.

The issue that has been expressed to me though is that we are so vast and have some of the most isolated towns in the state. Murrayville, for example, which is over on the South Australian border, is 2 hours from Mildura. It is out in the desert. I mean, we live in the desert anyway. We choose to live there. It is a great place. It is God’s country. However, with the cost of fuel the way it is at the moment – and you cannot actually get fuel in Murrayville. You either have to go across the border into South Australia to get your fuel or get it when you take the 2-hour drive to Mildura or wherever you are going. There is not a collection point there. So with the cost of fuel and the cost of living, although people want to take part in the scheme, there is not really a return on the 4-hour round trip. One of the changes that I believe could be made, and maybe it will be as the program evolves, is if the machines could be put into every country footy club – like Murrayville, like Underbool, like Walpeup and like all these places that are, essentially, hours from anywhere – and have that money go directly to the club, you would have one in every country football club in Victoria.

The other thing is that there have been lots of references to the crushing of cans and then using that money, as the member for Broadmeadows was saying, to go and get your mixed lollies. If you had $1, it would get you a litre of mixed lollies – the good old days. Crushing cans is one of those things that I have been conditioned to do. I now condition my kids to do it. This may illustrate me in a different light: we have got a can crusher in our outdoor area to make room in the bin. It is one of those things that I am conditioning my kids to do now too.

A member: It’s not going to gather dust now, is it?

Jade BENHAM: Well, it might. Do you know what? If we can recycle it, I will take it to a men’s shed so they can take it apart and re-weld it into some other sculpture. I do not drink a lot of things out of cans anyway; I prefer vessels of happiness. But I am sure we will find another use for it. My point is that it is the crushing of cans that my generation are conditioned to do, and now I am doing it to my kids. I noticed even on AroundAgain’s Facebook page, after they had put up the post yesterday saying ‘We’re actually not ready to go’, that there were some questions like ‘Will you take crushed cans?’ No, they will not, and there was some discussion about that.

Again, there are a few little challenges, and I think the rollout could be made easier, particularly in my part of the world, where container collection points can be hours away. Like I said, we have five. We have got AroundAgain in Mildura. We have got Bottles and Cans Mildura – they are in Byrne Court, on the other side of town. There is J & J’s Trash and Treasure in Robinvale. Then there is not one until Donald and Charlton, which are 3 hours away. I know I talk with my hands a lot. It is my culture – that is what we do. If you imagine Mildura up here and Robinvale here, then there is not another one until right down the bottom of the electorate. So there are some challenges there, obviously, and it just appears to be another scheme that has been rolled out and that had the potential to be great. But because it has been rushed through and it is not right, it would be much better to delay it. I am one of those incredibly practical and pragmatic people – get it right the first time and move on instead of rushing it through and then fixing it as you go.

I know there has been excitement within communities, but this is the feedback that I have had: we would love to see the ability for sports clubs, particularly footy and netball clubs, out in regional Victoria to be able to host the 24-hour automated machines with vast capacity, which would automatically give all that money to the clubs. Like I said, if that was an option, I am sure every football club in my electorate, and probably every country footy club in the state, would take one, because it is money for cans. Ha! There I go – I got one in.

Anthony CIANFLONE (Pascoe Vale) (11:58): It is a pleasure to rise on this amazing bill. I just want to begin by clarifying and picking up on something that the member for Brighton keeps alleging, time and time again, which is that there is no CDS here in the Melbourne CBD. But the reality is and the fact is that we do have a coalition deposit scheme right here at Parliament House, in the heart of the Melbourne CBD. It is a CDS that has just seen opposition leader after opposition leader recycled and recycled. It began with the member for Malvern, then there was the member for Bulleen twice and then the member for Hawthorn. Now it might be the member for Berwick or the member for Sandringham or Kew – who knows who is next? The CDS is here at Parliament House – the coalition deposit scheme. In that sense, let the record show that we do have a CDS here.

I do rise to of course to support the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023. I would like to begin by commending Minister D’Ambrosio, Minister Stitt and Minister Dimopoulos and their teams and departments and all the stakeholders that have been involved for so long to help bring together this legislation, this bill, and to help roll out the first container deposit scheme – not coalition deposit scheme but container deposit scheme. I commend them for bringing this work to the house.

As I said in my first speech, the environment is fundamental to all life on earth. It produces the air we breathe, the water we drink and the materials, resources and food that are essential for all life on the planet. As a local member but also as a local parent, I am committed to helping to leave behind a world in as good, if not better, condition as the one that our grandparents left to us. This is why I have always been a strong supporter of meaningful action to preserve our environment, combat climate change and transition towards a more sustainable way of living.

In this respect I am very proud to be part of the Allan Labor government, which is embarking on the most ambitious strategy in the state’s history to deliver a new world-class recycling system, which will provide for both statewide and local grassroots benefits in communities. Supported by a record $515 million of investment, the Recycling Victoria: A New Economy strategy sets out Victoria’s plan for a cleaner state with less pollution while creating more jobs. Key priorities and actions contained in this plan, several of which are being progressed through measures in this bill, include the rollout of the four-stream waste and recycling system – the new purple glass bins for all households across the state – for better and more recycling and less waste. We are changing how Victorians recycle materials through this system so that materials can be collected from households and are better separated and sorted and are of higher quality so that they can be used again to make new products, particularly by separating cardboard and glass.

We are creating a stronger waste and recycling industry with new infrastructure and innovative waste management solutions for better and more recycling and re-use and less waste. New recycling laws and governance have already been introduced to support best practice waste management, resource use and recycling. We are encouraging investment in appropriate waste-to-energy facilities, which reduce dependence on landfill, which this bill also goes to and the member for Morwell, I believe, touched on. A statewide ban on single-use plastics and promotion of re-usable items will reduce waste and pollution for a cleaner and healthier environment. And of course there is the landmark cash-for-cans scheme, or the container deposit scheme, which is at the heart of this bill and which has commenced as of 1 November, with 1 million containers successfully being recycled on the very first day of its operation across I believe over 300 sites that formed the initial rollout. The CDS is rewarding the return of used drink cans, cartons and bottles for recycling whilst reducing litter in local communities, parks, waterways and streetscapes, which I will focus on in the substance of my contribution shortly.

When combined, these game-changing reforms will help us build a new circular economy across Victoria, which will have a number of benefits including helping us to build a more sustainable and thriving circular economy for a cleaner Victoria and a circular economy and recycling system that Victorians can trust; reducing our carbon emissions and contributing to Victoria’s target of net zero emissions by 2045, including by mainly abating greenhouse gas emissions across the waste sector; significantly increasing the quality and volume of recycling and re-use of our precious resources, reducing reliance on virgin materials; and reducing waste, landfill and litter across communities, as I said, and across parks, waterways and streetscapes.

These reforms will be the catalyst to help us create a wave of new economic and jobs growth across the state’s circular economy, recycling and waste sector, potentially boosting Victoria’s economy by up to $6.7 billion by improving material efficiency in recycling. It will help create at least 3900 new jobs and establish new skills in design, repair, efficiency and materials usage across Victoria. It will help create new industry and businesses across the circular economy, including through research and development, material research, product design, repair, refurbishment, resale, re-use and product leasing. It will produce cost savings for households, not just through the 10-cent refund of the CDS but also through increasingly improved product durability and resilience over time as we strengthen our circular economy. It will also improve social inclusion through local initiatives that support repair cafes, product sharing and community composting, which the member for Broadmeadows touched on extensively across our shared communities of interest. Overall these reforms will help us drive behaviour change and build awareness across communities and households, with Victorians having the information and tools they need to reduce waste by re-using, sharing and recycling products.

The benefits of moving to a circular economy are widespread, and this bill will continue to facilitate our state’s move in this direction. Since the launch of the Victorian Labor government’s Recycling Victoria: A New Economy plan in February 2020 the state’s waste and recycling sector has entered a period of dynamic and positive change. The Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 gave effect to important components of the circular economy plan, including the establishment of Victoria’s container deposit scheme. The act also established the foundational powers and functions of the head of Recycling Victoria, a dedicated business unit within the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action. Subsequently the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2022 was passed. This amended the circular economy act to provide for further key policy elements.

It also established Victoria’s waste-to-energy scheme, which will introduce an annual cap on waste that can be processed in thermal waste-to-energy facilities in Victoria and associated licensing scheme. Recycling Victoria has since commenced the first stage of this licensing scheme for existing waste-to-energy products. Significant progress has since been made towards delivering on this commitment through Recycling Victoria as supported by the relevant frameworks in the act. Some issues, however, have been identified during the implementation of the CDS and the waste-to-energy schemes that need to be resolved to fully realise the benefits of these schemes to the community and the state.

This bill introduces the relevant amendments that address these issues to clarify and streamline the operation of the circular economy act. In particular, the bill supports the efficient operation of the Victorian government’s flagship CDS program, which commenced as of yesterday, as I said. The CDS will allow the return of the used drink cans, bottles and cartons for a 10-cent refund at various locations, including shopping centres, collection depots and over-the-counter refund points.

The bill will amend the circular economy act to clarify the cost recovery mechanism for the container deposit scheme to ensure that the regulator, Recycling Victoria, is able to recover all of its costs associated with the schemes. It will enable a new periodic licence fee, prescribed in regulations, to provide a mechanism for the head of Recycling Victoria to recover these ongoing costs and monitor compliance. It will establish the Recycling Victoria Fund, divided into the container deposit scheme account and the waste-to-energy scheme accounts, to support cost recovery for these respective schemes. And it will minimise the operational risks of the CDS and ensure it operates as intended. There are also reforms contained in this bill for the Environment Protection Act 2017 accordingly.

Locally, across my communities of Pascoe Vale, Coburg and Brunswick West, these reforms will help us with the continued rollout of the circular economy strategy and the container deposit scheme. Locally we already have five convenient locations where locals can now go to exchange their bottles, cans and plastics over the counter for a 10-cent refund, including at 7 Days Convenience Store at 60 Sydney Road, Coburg; the O’Hea Street Convenience Store at 156 O’Hea Street, Coburg; Mister & Missus M. Cafe at 135 Melville Road, Brunswick West; Coonans Hill Bottle Shop at 61 Coonans Road in Pascoe Vale; and the Friendly Grocer at 23 Merlyn Street, Coburg North. For more information on the CDS rollout and other nearby locations, I encourage everyone locally to go to www.cdsvic.org.au.

I am fortunate to have the major Visy recycling and packaging centre in Charles Street, Coburg North, in my electorate too. Visy plays a major role across the state but also across my community through the provision of good-quality local jobs and circular economy outcomes. Employing over 130 local workers at the factory, the site manufactures cans for Victoria’s growers and producers in many of the communities that regional MPs in this chamber represent. Those food cans can be recycled through everyone’s recycling bins and put back into new products. It is a great example of the circular economy in action in each of our respective communities. These cans from my constituents’ bins are then usually sorted through the material recovery facility that Visy operates in Banyule, which is in the member for Ivanhoe’s electorate. I am actually looking forward to visiting Visy in North Coburg very soon. We have been talking about it for a while, but the visit is coming up, and I am looking forward to meeting local workers onsite.

There are many other opportunities that I believe we can continue to leverage off the back of this bill and off the back of ongoing circular economy reforms for my community, in particular along the Newlands Road employment and industrial precinct, where we have the other Visy resource centre in Reservoir, in the member for Preston’s electorate. We also have the Darebin resource recovery centre along Newlands Road, and to the south is the Coburg North centre, which I have just mentioned. I believe there is a lot of opportunity to build off those initiatives to do more.

Bridget VALLENCE (Evelyn) (12:08): I rise today too to speak on the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023. I will focus on the bulk of the bill in terms of the container deposit scheme, or cash for cans. Who does not love getting cash for their cans – you know, 10 cents a can? But what this tired Labor government fails to remember is that it is not just a headline, it is not just getting cash for cans – there is so much detail behind that. This is an embarrassing display of a tired Labor government trying to play catch-up. Labor has been floundering for years when it comes to the circular economy, and quite frankly this Andrews or this Allan Labor government – Andrews before, now Allan, same old Labor government – has been embarrassed into a CDS, container deposit scheme, after responding to the Victorian Liberals, who led the way on this with a policy in early 2020 to introduce a container deposit scheme, and being outed as the only state in the country without a CDS for years and years. Some other states in Australia have had a CDS for years – in fact decades – and this Labor government has been dragged to the table to have a CDS so that people can get cash for their cans. However, as I said, what the Labor government fails to do time and time again is they love the headline but they forget the detail.

This is a new piece of legislation that we are debating today to fix the container deposit scheme that started yesterday. Day two of the scheme, and a new piece of legislation is required to fix the deep cracks in the system. And they are not just minor issues, they are not just minor cracks, they are issues with the funding model, with the legality of the contracts, with how the thing is going to be operated and how it is going to be funded. It is a container deposit scheme where you cannot deposit all containers. You cannot deposit crushed containers, you cannot deposit wine bottles. I represent the community of the Yarra Valley. There are lots of wine bottles in that area. But do you know what? Not only can you not deposit wine bottles but you cannot deposit containers in Lilydale, Coldstream, Chirnside Park, Seville, Seville East, Silvan, Yering or Gruyere. Nearly 40,000 Victorians live in just this part of Victoria, in my community in the Evelyn electorate, and there is not one container deposit location in any of those areas.

For the government to come out yesterday and herald this new container deposit scheme and then bring in new legislation the day after to fix all of the problems and not have locations for deposit in my community, is it any wonder why my community is really questioning the validity of this botched program? We want to be able to do it, we want to be able to do it in my community. We have been talking about a CDS for a long time. As I said, the Liberals led the way on this. But we cannot do it in Evelyn, because clearly this Allan Labor government, yet again, ignores the fact that the Evelyn electorate and the Victorians that live in Evelyn exist. It is an absolute joke. It has been at least five or six – probably six or even seven – years. We have a growing and bloating Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action under this tired Labor government. China’s National Sword policy was launched back in 2017. I was in the private sector before coming here, and I worked with the waste industry for well over 10 years before I was even an MP. We were dealing with these challenges and anticipating China’s decision well in advance. The mere fact that this Allan Labor government did absolutely nothing – we are in 2023 now, let us not forget – and still the government is catching up when it comes to the circular economy shows that it has been absolutely floundering all of this time.

The government was warned about this. They have been warned about this for years. In fact we debated a bill with almost the exact same name, the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2022, one year ago. I recall my contribution and we were warning the government back then that that particular bill was scant on solutions and scant on detail. And guess what? Fast-track to 12 months later, the CDS has rolled out – and guess what? We are now bringing in more legislation to fix all of the detail that did not exist. Surprise, surprise! This government should not have been surprised, because we told them. We warned them. We wanted it to work. We want it to succeed, yet I have deep concerns that this program will not succeed, and it will be all on the head of the tired Allan Labor government.

I found reading the second-reading speech quite instructive, so I will refer to some parts of the second-reading speech from the Allan Labor government’s Minister for Environment. I will quote a few parts of the second-reading speech and then I will talk through them. The reason this legislation is being brought before us today for debate is because:

Some issues have been identified during the implementation of CDS Vic … that need to be resolved to fully realise the benefits of these schemes to the community and the State.

What have they been doing all this time? You know what? It was announced yesterday. It sort of started yesterday, on 1 November, but surely they have been doing a little bit of work to get to that rollout stage, that implementation stage. So why bring this legislation in now? Why wasn’t it brought in months ago? Again from the second-reading speech:

In particular, the Bill supports efficient operation of the Victorian Government’s flagship –

what a joke –

… CDS Vic, which will commence on 1 November –

yesterday. It goes on to say it is for used drink cans – not crushed; no, not even a slight dint. It is for used cans, as long as they are in pristine condition, and bottles and cartons. It has collection depots, but not everywhere, as we said. There are pretty much none in my community. It states:

CDS Vic will reduce Victoria’s litter by up to half …

That is good; it could have been more. And the second-reading speech says it will:

… create new economic opportunities …

And won’t it, because all of the big foreign-owned beverage companies are going to be increasing their prices. They have already increased the prices of their drinks in cans and bottles, not by 10 cents but by 15 cents and 20 cents per can. They are profiteering under this, under the watch of this Allan Labor government. These big, massive beverage companies are profiteering under this scheme created by the Allan–Andrews government, the same old Labor government, with the economic opportunities that they are creating for their big corporate mates.

Again in the second-reading speech, the minister says the bill will:

clarify the cost recovery mechanism for CDS Vic to ensure the scheme regulator, RV, is able to recover all of its oversight and regulatory costs from the beverage industry …

Haven’t the contracts already been negotiated and signed? The second-reading speech, further on in the piece, says that these amendments are to be:

… applied retrospectively to agreements with the existing Scheme Coordinator and Network Operators that were signed and executed in March 2023 …

It is November 2023. What have they been doing for the last nine months? They have known about these problems. It is in the second-reading speech. They have known about these problems for nine months, and they could not be bothered to get the legislation in until November, after the scheme had actually started. It is crazy. It is a massive department, a growing bloated department under this Labor government, with big fat-cat bureaucrats. What have they been doing?

Again, it goes on to say so much more. As I say, this second-reading speech is very insightful. It says the scheme is to:

minimise operational risks for CDS Vic to support the scheme and to ensure it operates efficiently …

It is already operating, and clearly they have already admitted that it is not operating efficiently. Again, nearly 40,000 Victorians just in my community cannot even get one – if they actually want to go to one. There will be some people who will want to get their cans and put them in the machine and get their cash back. What this government has forgotten to think about is that, say, in my community, where there are no locations for a deposit, they are going to have to – not crush their cans – pack up their cans, put them in a car or in a trailer and drive. There is wear and tear on the road and wear and tear on their car, adding to congestion on the roads, and there are emissions from their cars to drive the kilometres and kilometres and kilometres just to get to a deposit location. It is yet another scheme and program. Lest there be any doubt, the Victorian Liberals and Nationals absolutely support a container deposit scheme, but it is years too late. It is absolutely botched, and the government should have done much better.

Lauren KATHAGE (Yan Yean) (12:18): I thank the member for Evelyn for her concern that we might be a little bit tired, but her speech was only 10 minutes, so I am still okay. I do want to update her, though. She wants to know what we have been doing for the last nine months. I am really proud to say that we have been powering ahead with all of our work focused on making Victoria a greener and better place. That includes standing up the SEC, supporting households to go electric and this fantastic initiative that launched yesterday: the container deposit scheme. That is what we have been doing for the last nine months.

I am not sure what the member for South-West Coast is doing. I think by her numbers she was going to end up with 5000 tinnies by the end of the year. Somebody should let Boonie know that his record might be broken. Boonie might also be very pleased to know that under our container deposit scheme he would have been eligible for $5.20 for those cans on the flight to London, so a missed opportunity for him, but I am so glad that any future records that are broken will be supported by our container deposit scheme.

Of course I am rising to speak to the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023. As I said, this is part of our government’s full-throttle, excited work on all of the different initiatives to support a greener, better Victoria. It is really well thought through and strategic – it really is – and it is based on some of our existing frameworks. We have got the circular economy act, we released in November 2021 the Victorian Waste to Energy Framework after consultation with industry and we also have the Circular Economy Infrastructure Fund. These benefits that we are creating are not just for the environment but for jobs. We know that through the container deposit scheme over 600 jobs are likely to be created, and we are providing opportunities for business through this initiative. As well as that, we are creating a context in which technologies and initiatives are being optimistically developed by business.

I was lucky enough last week to have a tour of the Wollert resource park in my electorate of Yan Yean. This is an innovative circular economy precinct in our growing north. What they are doing there is transforming materials away from landfill and creating valuable circular construction materials. They are proposing to transform the Wollert landfill into a resource recovery precinct, and this will support Victoria’s circular economy transition. These are businesses that can step out confidently with innovation and technology because they know they are operating in the context of a government that is creating ideal conditions for businesses that want to make a better mark on the world that we live in and better jobs for people in my electorate of Yan Yean – lots more jobs. I am so pleased about that. What they do there is take on a lot of waste from councils and commercial customers, and the landfill gas that is generated onsite is captured and transformed into electricity. They have got a biogas power facility there that produces almost 8 megawatts of renewable energy, which is enough to power around 11,000 homes or charge 1.2 million electric vehicles. So they are working hard to reach their vision of a circular economy precinct in the outer north, and I look forward to encouraging them on their path there.

It is surrounded by or close to lots of farms, and something that you may not know we farm in the district of Yan Yean is bitcoin – that is right. The Wollert resource park uses before-the-metre electricity to provide opportunities for bitcoin farmers. So we have got the cows, we have got the bitcoin – it is all happening in Yan Yean. This whole circular economy – prioritising waste avoidance, waste reduction, material re-use and recycling – is absolutely where it is at. Waste to energy is the final opportunity, after all of those things, to try and extract some value from materials which would otherwise go to landfill. As we shift to that circular economy, these waste-to-energy facilities play a really important role in making sure that we are getting every value. Of course we are trying to have 80 per cent diverted.

The bill here in relation to the waste-to-energy scheme establishes the Recycling Victoria Fund. That will include a special-purpose operating account where the waste-to-energy fees and the container deposit scheme costs will be used and hypothecated for the specific purpose that the fees are collected.

I want to touch a little bit on something that the member for Kalkallo and I are aware of in our communities, and that is illegal dumping. The illegal dumping of waste in some of our pristine areas can be a real problem. Unfortunately sometimes that waste is industrial waste, where a person who has a responsibility for ensuring the proper disposal or re-use of materials instead chooses to make our communities less beautiful and less safe. Under this bill what we are seeing is the ability to pass remediation costs on to those polluters, and that is the way it should be. Our local communities and the like should not have to cover industrial costs when, instead of taking responsibility for what is a valid business cost, people choose instead to shift that cost to us, the local communities, with their dumping of industrial waste, and we just will not stand for it. One way that we are addressing that is through this legislation to make sure that as polluters they will pay.

Ding, ding, ding – pay up. We did that yesterday: we have heard over 1 million items already handed in for the container deposit scheme. What a successful launch that was. I find it absolutely impossible to have a problem with a way to reduce litter in our communities and provide modest incomes for people. Something I find really great is that in the electorate of Yan Yean the Whittlesea Community House will be a collection point. The Whittlesea Community House already provides so many fantastic services to people in my community who require help with financial counselling, who need to be connected to legal services, who need a friend, who need accompaniment, who need advice or who want to get involved in activities in our community. Having a container deposit scheme collection point at the Whittlesea Community House will increase the number of people who are aware of all the services that they provide, who will be able to connect with the workers and volunteers there and who, as well as getting some money for their waste, will be able to find a second chance at friendships and involvement in the community. I am really looking forward to Whittlesea Community House being one of the collection points for that.

As I said at the start, we are not tired. We are tired of people getting in our way, we are tired of people trying to slow us down and we are tired of people on the one hand saying ‘Oh, wait, wait, wait, you shouldn’t have done it yet’, on the other hand saying ‘It’s not perfect’ and then another hand saying ‘Can my football club have a 24-hour thing?’ That is what I am tired of. But I am so proud to be here to support this bill, and I absolutely commend it to the house.

Jess WILSON (Kew) (12:28): I rise to speak on the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023. Can I acknowledge from the outset the contribution from my colleague the member for Brighton, who in his lengthy speech highlighted the chaos and confusion that has surrounded this poorly implemented scheme. The container deposit scheme (CDS) is yet another example of the Labor government’s incompetence. They like to put out a flashy press release, but these are very light on detail and they tend to crumble on implementation. We only have to look at the number of examples over the past week where we have seen implementation being a big problem for this government. We saw last week that they nearly forgot to register their signature policy, the SEC, with ASIC. They had to rush that through at the last minute. It is lucky that ASIC has a 24-hour service turnaround to make sure the press release could look good on that one. Next Tuesday we are going to see the decriminalisation of public drunkenness with no health-led response in place. This incompetence seems to surround every big policy announcement when it comes to implementation by those opposite. Unfortunately it is the case again with the container deposit scheme.

Looking at this bill here today, from the outset – and I appreciate that my colleagues have made very similar points on this side of the house – the Liberals and the Nationals strongly support the introduction of a container deposit scheme. In fact it was a Liberal–National announcement prior to the Labor Party jumping on board to put in place a container deposit scheme. We saw Victoria’s recycling chain collapse over five years ago now, and it has taken that long for the Labor government to put in place and announce, belatedly, the introduction of a container deposit scheme. We are well behind other states in this country, and that is a result of not only the incompetence of those opposite but also their failure to actually announce the introduction until well after the collapse of recycling in Victoria.

We all believe on this side of the house that a container deposit scheme is very important for transitioning to a circular economy and making sure that we are limiting our waste and looking at transitioning to an enhanced recycling system in Victoria. This is something that my constituents in Kew are very passionate about. They want to be able to access a container deposit scheme and play their part in improving the circular economy here in Victoria. It has taken some time to drag those opposite on board, but now we need to see the rollout of the container deposit scheme implemented in a way whereby the community can access it effectively and actually see those environmental outcomes – reducing litter across Victoria. But that requires the community being able to access it, and as the scheme has been rolled out we have seen that is not the case.

I have made the point that this is another example of the failure to implement policies by this government. The scheme came into effect yesterday on 1 November, highly lauded by this government, yet here we are today debating legislation that will actually create the financial obligations of the scheme through the cost recovery mechanism and establish many of the legal and contractual foundations of the scheme – after the implementation and the introduction of the scheme and the commencement of the scheme yesterday. So not only has this rollout been a debacle for the community but the financial and legal framework was not even in place when it came into operation.

We saw last week in the media that many organisations have put their hands up to be part of this program but are still waiting on the details around how exactly this scheme will work and what their role will be in the container deposit scheme. It is just more chaos and confusion when it comes to this scheme. The role of government, for those opposite, is to actually do the nitty-gritty work to make sure that the rollout of this scheme and other policies is actually done in a way that brings the community with them so that there is understanding within the community and when you are working with industry they actually understand their contractual and financial obligations – not just put out a press release.

Time and time again we have heard those opposite today singing their own praises when it comes to the introduction of this scheme, but we have listened to some of the stakeholders who have been out in the media this week, and I quote from the director of the Boomerang Alliance:

I have concerns. For a state that said it was going to be the best in Australia and it had learnt the lessons from the other states. I don’t think that’s happened.

So we are lagging behind other states in terms of the actual introduction of the container deposit scheme and in many other ways. It is a scheme that has been poorly thought through in its implementation. Of course we have heard today from those opposite that there will be 600 locations across Victoria for Victorians to go and deposit their containers, their cans and their bottles, but when this scheme was coming into effect over the past few days – as of Friday last week there was one public location available to find. When I looked just yesterday at the website to see locations in my own area in the electorate of Kew and the surrounds in Boroondara, there were no locations on the website. I checked again this morning, and it has been updated since then with five over-the-counter refund points to service 168,000 residents. There are no reverse vending machines or depots. I understand from talking to Boroondara council that they are very keen to be part of this scheme and they are very keen to work with the contracted provider to find locations, but it has been very, very difficult to have a reasonable conversation about where those locations will be in the Boroondara area, and as a result we have got minimal over-the-counter providers but no reverse vending machines and no actual depots in our area.

If we also turn to some of the surrounding changes, we have seen this government rush through planning law changes over the past couple of months to exempt locations from the usual planning process that would ordinarily apply. Amendment VC246 signed off by the Minister for Planning just a few weeks ago exempts CDS sites from the usual notice and review requirements. I have had an owners corporation reach out, who said that this was foisted upon them against their wishes without any ability to review the decision or to put input into the decision, and now they have to deal with the significant insurance premiums that are going to flow from that and the implications of now having a site that houses a CDS location. At a time when many businesses are struggling, this is being foisted upon them without the ability to actually review that and to work with the CDS provider to identify potentially another location that would be more suitable. This is being forced upon them without the ability to actually have any say and without the ability for consultation.

I also note that there have been many issues raised this week, particularly by the beverage industry, which has said that they will pass the additional cost of this scheme through to consumers. There have been reports that the price of cans this week has increased by up to 30 cents, and the beverage industry itself has highlighted that there will be at least a 12.8 cent increase on the average product. Now, the government have refused to actually answer questions about what they intend to do with the unspent collected levy, but at a time when there are rapidly increasing cost-of-living pressures and many people are struggling, we do not need to see further cost increases when it comes to cans and bottles when we go to the supermarket, particularly when the beverage industry has said that this is going to force that to happen.

For these reasons, I support the member for Brighton’s reasoned amendment, which does seek to call out many of these issues; looks at how we can actually ensure that we publicly release an update on the progress of the container deposit scheme, which commenced yesterday; and notes that around only half of those 600 locations across Victoria have been publicly confirmed and there has been no meaningful communication with businesses about the disposal of their containers. We also need to understand what the government does intend to do with the charges collected from the container deposit scheme and consider those cost-of-living impacts. We do not oppose this bill, but we have serious concerns about the rollout and implementation of this policy. The coalition has always supported the introduction of a container deposit scheme. We will continue to do so, but we want to make sure that it is rolled out in a way that actually ensures that Victorians can access it and can benefit from it.

Sarah CONNOLLY (Laverton) (12:38): It gives me a great deal of pleasure to rise to speak on the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023. It is absolutely fantastic to be standing up here in this place speaking on another bill before the house that is all about making our environment better and talking about the circular economy. Over the last five years we have had so many bills come before this house, and I absolutely love getting up here and talking about it. It is something I most certainly will never tire of. In my contribution, before I begin, I would like to say I have been doing something that maybe the member for Kew has not been doing, and that is hitting the streets and talking to punters about this container deposit scheme and how fantastic it is. Do you know what? If the member for Kew and those opposite had spent time out in their community talking to the real stakeholders in their electorates to get them re-elected here into this place, they would actually know people in Victoria want this. They have been asking for it. We are doing it. It is happening. It has happened this week.

I am going to tell you a little bit of a story of what happened to me when I was doing a bit of a blitz at the container deposit sites which are currently sitting in my electorate of Laverton. There are two in the LGA of Brimbank. We have got one at The Avenue shopping centre – a fantastic little shopping centre for folks in Sunshine West – and of course another huge deposit container that has been set up right next door to West Sunshine Community Centre, which is a really popular community centre for lots of folks, particularly senior citizens, which would be a great opportunity for them to bring their cans, bottles and cartons to recycle there. Then I drove over a couple of kilometres to Braybrook, to the HomeCo shopping centre. I was looking for the fabulous container that I had seen in Sunshine West only to find out that it had not yet arrived but it would be arriving this week – but unfortunately I was in Parliament and unable to have a photo with it.

When I was in Sunshine West at The Avenue we pulled up to have some photos with the container deposit machine. It almost looks like a massive shipping container really; that is the only way I can describe it. It has got the most beautiful, incredible design that you can see from so far off. When I was checking it out, having a bit of a poke and prod, reading everything that was there and taking lots of photos, as politicians do for social media, a young family came over. They said, ‘Isn’t this amazing?’ They did not know I was the MP there. It just looked weird, I guess, me taking lots of photos with my staff. I said, ‘Isn’t it fantastic?’ They wanted to know when it opened. They had been shopping at Coles. They had put their groceries in the car, they had come over and they were showing their kids. They had really young kids, and they were explaining what was going to happen with the recycling from this particular container deposit site. They said to me, ‘Do you know what? I think we’re going to set up a bank account for our kids, and we will encourage them to collect bottles and cans.’ They assured me they had a lot in their household and their extended family had a lot. They were going to encourage their kids to come and recycle there, and they would be able to transfer that money straight into their bank account. I thought that was a wonderful thing. It is a wonderful example of just how fantastic for generations this container deposit scheme really is.

I have been in the chamber now for 2 hours and 45 minutes, so I have listened to a lot of contributions on this bill before the house. What it comes down to is I do not think those opposite agree with, endorse or understand what we are trying to do here with the container deposit scheme. They are against us every step of the way when it comes to the environment, constantly trying to tear down incredible bills and huge legislative reform agendas that come here before the house. It is interesting that over the past almost 3 hours that I have been here sitting here there have still only been two of them sitting on that side of the chamber. Yet when I look on this side of the chamber, whether people are on chamber duty or they are making contributions this afternoon and are excited to listen to the debate –

A member interjected.

Sarah CONNOLLY: I am really sorry, but I do not see anyone sitting beside you very often listening to your contributions before the house.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Through the Chair.

Sarah CONNOLLY: This bill is another step forward in implementing our government’s circular economy strategy, and the major contributions before this house in volume and numbers will be from this side of the house. We love talking about Victoria’s circular economy strategy. We have created it, we are rolling it out and we are implementing it here in Victoria. This week alone we will have about 200 sites, including those three I have just talked about, in the Laverton electorate alone, operational and ready to participate in this scheme. Not every site, as I have said today, has opened on day one. Not every site was going to open on day one; it is being rolled out. If you keep your drink cans, bottles and cartons, you can now get 10 cents for every one you deposit at refund points right across the state. I had a conversation earlier with the member for Broadmeadows and the member for Monbulk about when we were kids what the cost was and what we could get for recycling our bottles and cans. I think from memory it was about 5 cents. We are now going to be getting 10 cents for every one we pop in for a refund right across the state. What is better is that this scheme has the benefit of potentially slashing our litter in half – that is right, half. I am going to take a moment to pause and talk about rubbish and litter in my patch, particularly Melbourne’s west and particularly Melbourne’s outer west. When I was first preselected as the Labor candidate for the seat of Tarneit I spent so much time at my train stations, walking around my community, talking to people, chatting to local businesses, talking to a lot of commuters and people walking on the street, and the one thing that people talked to me about time and time again was the amount of rubbish and litter that was on their streets. It was almost as if Wyndham City Council could not keep up with removing the rubbish in this municipality.

This container deposit scheme is going to help encourage people to collect their bottles, their cans and their cartons and recycle them at particular points. There is a monetary incentive. While some people think that it is small, others look on the brighter side – they think about how many cans, bottles and cartons they have at home and accumulate week upon week and what that will end up being over a year. For some folks that is quite a bit of money. It is also a great way to get kids to recycle and understand the importance of not throwing your bottles and cans out of the window, whether you are on the highway or local streets, which causes the rubbish in the local area to accumulate and accumulate and get worse and worse.

One of the other things – and I encourage members in this place to do this to help them understand why something like this is just so important – is to visit your local tip. Early on after I was elected as the member for Tarneit I went and had a look at the Werribee tip. It was perhaps one of the more confronting things that I have done and tours I have looked at. The amount of rubbish that was there on that site and then how they dealt with it was quite extraordinary, as was the sheer volume and the volume of what could and should be recycled. There is so much more that we can be doing when it comes to recycling. I think every household here in this state and the country and indeed across the world knows that it can and should – it must – be pulling its weight when it comes to recycling. I have on my bench at home next to the kitchen sink the organic recycling bin, or the compost bin, and we now have our green bins that we put it in. This is just another initiative that we are rolling out that is really going to make inroads in this state in reducing litter and having less landfill and, with the way some landfill is burned off, reducing what goes up into the atmosphere.

This is a really important scheme that is being rolled out across this state. I only wish those on that side of the house would get out in their community and talk about it and how great it is. Encourage people to recycle. On this side of the house I know that every single member will be going to these container deposit sites as they are rolled out in their electorates, as more most certainly are going to be rolled out in mine, and recycle again and again to help better protect our environment but also reduce the amount of rubbish.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Before I call the member for Euroa I would like to point out Rulings from the Chair, 1998, Deputy Speaker McGrath, and Speaker Languiller later on, states:

A member must not pass between the Chair and the member who is speaking (SO121). It is also not acceptable for a member to bend down in an attempt to get under the line of sight.

Even though this might mean members have to walk the long way around the Chamber, that is what is expected and customary. Members who do not do this may be identified by the Chair.

I would also point out that interjections should be made from a member’s place.

Annabelle CLEELAND (Euroa) (12:49): I rise today to speak on the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023. This is a bill that makes amendments to pieces of existing legislation to provide a more enhanced framework for the transition of waste and recycling in Victoria. Amendments to the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 include imposing operational costs for operating the container deposit scheme (CDS) incurred by the regulator, Recycling Victoria, on the beverage industry; introducing new periodic licence fees that will allow Recycling Victoria to recover costs when administering the waste-to-energy scheme; establishing the Recycling Victoria Fund and special purpose accounts to transparently fund their operations; granting the authority to set variable fees through regulations for applications and submissions under the act; and aiming to reduce the operational risks for CDS Vic through the clarification of earlier legislative provisions. There are also amendments to the Environment Protection Act 2017 that extend the powers of protective services officers and the Game Management Authority.

This bill is quite topical. There has been a lot of passion and puns that we have heard, and a few terrible sledges as well. The Labor government’s container deposit scheme has made headlines both in the lead-up to its launch and since going live on 1 November. From what we are hearing, and I am certainly hearing in my electorate, there have been mixed reviews on the rollout of this scheme. Five of these refund points for the container deposit scheme are located within the 12,000 square kilometres of my electorate of Euroa, although we are seeing varying levels of success so far. This is something that many people within my community have been looking forward to for quite some time. The implementation has left many of these people reaching out to my office with concerns as to whether or not it will be worthwhile.

The Tallarook Hotel has also reached out to my office, talking about their decision to pull out from the program. Here is what they said about the scheme. I would like to quote publican Tim. I am quoting him verbatim:

… due to issues that became evident … on roll out, I have ceased being a collection point.

Overall the rollout roll out was poorly communicated, and slow.

… staff training and organising the workflow could not start until the scheme was live.

… bins arrived on site on 25 October … with no notice, requiring access to the property. Luckily I was on site to take the bins as it is unclear what would have happened if I was not here.

… I support the goals of the scheme, but the rollout and implementation is a shit show.

All of these collection sites in the Euroa electorate are located within private businesses, who as usual are stepping up where the government often fails. In Benalla there is a Foott depot. While there have been some concerns about it being open in time, it seems to be up and running. In the town of Euroa, the Euroa Timber Company has an over-the-counter location. The Avenel Cafe, an iconic part of the local community and a genuine hidden gem, will also serve as an over-the-counter location, as will the Railway Hotel in Murchison – and a quick shout-out to Mitch Golding and Emilia, you are legends. Speaking to the Avenel Cafe this morning, they were optimistic that this project will be of benefit to them and local residents but have had just two people come through so far. Seymour is home to another over-the-counter facility with J & J Equipment Hire store, and the Bottlemart in Broadford will also have this option, although neither of these have been able to open yet. Speaking to J & J, they say they are yet to receive all the necessary materials to run the scheme and have only received a bunch of containers that were dumped in a pile. They are aiming to open on the 8th but are still not sure when the remaining equipment will arrive. There are also reports of machines in car parks not working and locations for drop-off sites disappearing off the website. There are also some broader concerns with this bill in the implementation, operation and costs associated with the CDS.

This bill and the implementation of the container deposit scheme reflect other shortcomings when it comes to environment policy, including the seed targets outlined in the Biodiversity 2037 strategy. The Labor government has been at serious risk of failing to meet seed targets under this strategy. The plan was developed in 2017 with the overarching vision to ensure our natural environment is healthy and valued by Victorians. The plan is also slated to stop the decline of native plants and animals while protecting the natural environment. Part of this involves the availability and supply of native seeds for environmental restoration, with the current trajectory set to meet just 10 per cent of the 2037 target. I have met with members of the fantastic Euroa Arboretum to discuss the current state of the sector. The crew at the Euroa Arboretum are passionate about protecting the local environment and put in an incredible amount of volunteer work. There are serious concerns that underinvestment in seed strategy will result in targets being massively undershot. Effective seed strategy will see secure supply of climate-adapted and genetically diverse seed for large-scale restoration. A lot of time has been invested by the Euroa Arboretum into alternative solutions to meeting seed procurement targets across the Goulburn Broken catchment.

They have completed a funding proposal to develop large-scale seed production areas and seed bank facilities for the Goulburn Broken catchment, but unfortunately the rate of return on wild seed harvest is negligible and there are regulations around what can be harvested from wild populations. The proposal put forward by the Euroa Arboretum includes 20 hectares of seed production across three local sites, a new seed bank facility and upgrades to existing facilities at the arboretum. This plan could be adapted and utilised across catchments across eastern Victoria. They are hard workers who are very passionate and have a strong vision for our environment, and I hope the Victorian government is taking their concerns seriously.

This seed project is not the only one in my region that would benefit significantly from some interest by the Minister for Environment and investment by the government. Greening Euroa is an innovative community-driven project that will use recycled water to irrigate public green spaces during the summer months. The proposal is the first of its kind in Victoria. It is climate smart, cost-effective and community inspired. For the Euroa township the Greening Euroa project will keep our school ovals, sporting fields and parks and gardens green in the dry summer months. It will use recycled water to irrigate our public green spaces, something that is essential to our community’s health and wellbeing during times of drought. Drought-proofing Euroa is something that is critically needed. In 2007 the town ran out of water, leaving 2500 local residents, businesses and community organisations in genuine trouble as the taps would not turn on. Bottled water and carted-in water from neighbouring areas became essential. The Greening Euroa plan will tap into the excess water from the Euroa wastewater treatment plant. With the support of Goulburn Valley Water, this wastewater will be safely upgraded from class C to class B before being piped underground to storage tanks throughout the township. The Greening Euroa project is a win for everyone – community, children and the environment. It needs $3.8 million in funding from the state and federal governments, and I look forward to the environment minister and the Treasurer supporting this.

I also want to take the time to recognise local Landcare groups, who continue to do exceptional work. I am sure many will be assisting community members interested in participating in the container deposit scheme. In particular I want to thank Gecko CLaN. They are a community Landcare network which supports 14 Landcare groups stretching from Yarrawonga to the Strathbogie Ranges to Nagambie. The Gecko CLaN implements network-scale projects around the themes of sustainable agriculture and biodiversity. My farm and my family have been closely involved since becoming adults. The Gecko CLaN is proudly independent but enjoys strong working relationships with government agencies and other community organisations. Their role is to support local Landcare groups to carry out their projects, including sourcing funding, project management and administrative assistance. They also develop network-level projects across the whole Gecko CLaN area.

To finish up on this bill, I want to support the Shadow Minister for Environment and Climate Change’s reasoned amendment. A commitment to publicly releasing the progress of the CDS will be of significant benefit to the community. Providing more clarity on the rollout and implementation of this scheme should not be too much to ask. With the reasoned amendment in mind, we do not oppose this bill.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I will quote again Deputy Speaker McGrath:

Unparliamentary language is not acceptable and quoting such language from another source does not make it acceptable. Members need to be selective and perhaps substitute other words.

On that note, it is a good time to break for lunch.

Sitting suspended 12:58 pm until 2:01 pm.

Business interrupted under standing orders.