Tuesday, 3 March 2020

Waste and recycling management

Mr M O’BRIEN (Malvern—Leader of the Opposition) (12:35): My question is to the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change. In August 2019 the minister confirmed to the Parliament that the Andrews government was hoarding $397 million in bin taxes paid by Victorian households into the Sustainability Fund. Three hundred and ninety-seven million dollars is more than enough to pay for this government’s belated and weak response to Labor’s recycling crisis. Given this, why is the Andrews government now hiking the bin tax paid by Victorian households by 90 per cent?

Ms D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park—Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Minister for Solar Homes) (12:36): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. Our record speaks volumes in terms of our commitment to overhaul the recycling system in Victoria, which has been left to languish for too long. Our commitment is just that. Our commitment is to ensure that we have a recycling system paid for out of the Sustainability Fund that Victorians can rely on, and that is something that those opposite talk big and deliver nothing on.

Mr M O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, the minister is debating the question. The question went to why the government is hiking bin taxes by 90 per cent when the money is already in the Sustainability Fund to pay for the initiatives announced last week.

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has been answering the question for less than half her allotted time. I do ask the minister to come to answering the question.

Ms D’AMBROSIO: The point is very clear: Victoria should not be the dumping ground of other states’ waste. That is the problem that we have got here. We have an inequitable system whereby the landfill levy in Victoria is amongst the cheapest in the country, and that means that we are a magnet for those that want to avoid higher landfill levies in other states to come to Victoria. We are not going to sit by and allow Victoria to become the country’s dumping ground.

Mr R Smith: On a point of order, Speaker, as the Leader of the Opposition pointed out, the question was about why a bin tax is being introduced at a 90 per cent premium to pay for initiatives that the minister is talking about when there is already money in the Sustainability Fund. You have already ruled that the minister was not answering that question. She continues to defy your ruling. I would put it to you that once again she has more than strayed and you should bring her back to addressing the question that was asked.

The SPEAKER: Order! I thank the member for raising that point of order. I was listening very carefully to the minister’s answer, and she was being relevant to the question asked.

Ms D’AMBROSIO: Thank you, Speaker. We are not the only government that has understood the relationship between a fair landfill levy and a sustainable recycling system. I remind those opposite that the member for Warrandyte, when he was the minister back in 2011, said—and this in Hansard— when he introduced an increase to the landfill levy:

Increasing the levies will help Victorians send less waste to landfill and reduce the harms to local households and nearby businesses—including noise, dust and odour.

Mr R Smith: On a point of order, Speaker, but the minister can confirm that I did not raise it by 90 per cent on top of all the other charges that Labor has put in place—

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Warrandyte will resume his seat. That is not a point of order.

Ms D’AMBROSIO: Thank you, Speaker. What is more, we have invested a record amount over the last term and into this term from the Sustainability Fund. Those opposite know nothing of what that is like. Right now the true cost of having a vulnerable recycling system in Victoria is borne by every single Victorian. That is why we are investing record amounts of money in our recycling system so that Victorians can get the system that they deserve and that they can rely on.

Mr M O’BRIEN (Malvern—Leader of the Opposition) (12:39): This Andrews government, they have buggered the budget, they have buggered recycling and their only response is to hike taxes. Minister, why should Victorian households have to pay for your incompetence and your inability to manage money?

The SPEAKER: I think maybe the Leader of the Opposition could have chosen better words.

Ms D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park—Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Minister for Solar Homes) (12:40): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for the supplementary question. I am not going to stand here and take lectures from those opposite when it comes to a sustainable recycling sector. Those opposite spent almost nothing from the Sustainability Fund in recycling—$15 million over four years. And who knows? We do not even know how much of that has actually gone into the recycling sector. We have got a plan. We will revive the recycling system and make it one that everyone can be proud of and rely on.