Charitable organisations
Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:27): (119) My question is to the Minister for Environment. Minister, why won’t the Andrews government provide 100 per cent financial protection to Victorian charities to offset the impact of the government’s proposed waste levy?
Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Early Childhood and Pre-Prep, Minister for Environment) (12:27): I thank Ms Crozier for her question. Can I, from the outset, just acknowledge the very important work that our charities do in Victoria, not only when it comes to addressing pollution and the significant role they play in our circular economy but also of course for the really important work that they do supporting some of Victoria’s most vulnerable community members. It is, I think, very important to point out that since 2014 the Andrews Labor government have supported charities in their efforts to divert literally hundreds of thousands of tonnes of recycling from landfill. This is something that we are very committed to continuing to support the charitable sector on, and we are in the process of determining the most appropriate way in which to do that going forward.
It is also important for context to note that the recent announcement of our container deposit scheme, CDS Vic, will also provide a number of additional opportunities for charities to raise important funds, and that can be done in a number of different ways. Of course there can be container drives that charities are the beneficiaries of. They can also run refund collection points across one of the 600 collection points that will be rolled out across our state as part of our container deposit scheme, and also the reverse vending machines that will be introduced actually allow individual Victorians who are doing the right thing with their cycling to provide that refund to the charity of their choice. These are a number of different ways in which the Andrews Labor government is supporting our charitable organisations. Specifically, in relation to our charitable recyclers, we have been backing them since 2014, and we will continue to support them in the important work that they do to help Victoria divert 80 per cent of landfill by 2030.
Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:30): Minister, that was an extraordinary answer to a very simple question. The charities divert over 158,000 tonnes, for your information –
Ingrid Stitt: I am aware.
Georgie Crozier: well, you did not say it – from Victorian landfill and contribute to the circular economy by giving 68 million products a second life every year through charity op shops. They make a huge positive impact on our environment. Why is the Andrews Labor government going to war with Victorian charities in order to make the smallest dint in its bankrupt budget?
Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Early Childhood and Pre-Prep, Minister for Environment) (12:31): I must say Ms Crozier is gilding the lily somewhat here. It is like she is actually repeating my answer back to me, because I just spent 3½ minutes explaining that the Victorian government has backed our charitable organisations in their recycling efforts since 2014, and we will continue to do so. And in fact it is our circular economy policies that are helping them to support delivery. So it is an absolute flipping of reality that Ms Crozier is presenting in the chamber today. We have been engaging with the organisations and the peak bodies associated with these charitable recyclers, and we will continue to support them.