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Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Page: 6998

Ms RISHWORTH (Kingston) (10:44): I am very pleased to rise today in support of the Product Stewardship Bill 2011 because I do think this is a very important bill. While it is not one which draws the most amount of attention, I think it is a very good piece of legislation that really does work with local areas to make sure that we recycle and reuse Australia's waste properly.

Australia remains the second highest producer of waste per person in the world. The magnitude of Australia's waste stream has reached such a point that, in the four years to 2007, the amount of waste generated in Australia rose by 31 per cent, equating to approximately 2,000 kilograms for every Australian every year. Furthermore, over this same time frame, hazardous waste has doubled in Australia. However, these figures were recorded over a period when Australia's resource recovery from waste had also increased to 22.7 million tonnes or approximately 52 per cent. That is to say that despite increased action in the recovery of waste, Australia's production of waste is still growing each year. This comparison illustrates how significant work targeted at reducing the impact of Australia's waste is being negatively offset by the gradual increase in waste generated. In doing so it also highlights the significance of the bill before the House today.

The Product Stewardship Bill facilitates two important roles. Firstly, it implements a commitment to the National Waste Policy by establishing a national framework underpinned by legislative support; this means government-supported action on waste management. Secondly, it seeks to combat Australia's problem of increasing waste generation by extending the responsibility for reducing the environmental, health and safety impacts of manufactured goods and materials across the entire lifecycle of a product. The National Waste Policy announced in 2009 heralds a new, coherent, efficient and environmentally responsible approach to the management of waste in Australia. I think this is important because we do have many organisations that are out there working very hard; organisations such as Keep Australia Beautiful have done a lot of work. So it is important that we tie together these communities under a national framework. The policy has been fully endorsed by all Australian governments, through both the Environment Protection and Heritage Council and the Council of Australian Governments.

The key aims of the National Waste Policy are to significantly improve Australia's management of waste and to achieve an overall reduction in waste. Product stewardship effectively facilitates these aims by providing industry, communities and governments with a consistent national approach to the management of certain products. It engages with those involved in the production, supply and use of products to share the responsibility for the environmental impact throughout a product's life from its production through to its disposal. Product stewardship provides a basis for either voluntary, co-regulated or mandated actions to be taken by manufacturers, importers, distributors and others with regard to avoiding the generation of waste, reducing or eliminating the amount of waste from products to be disposed of, reducing or eliminating hazardous substances in products and waste from products, managing waste from products and resources and ensuring that products and waste from products are treated, disposed of, recovered, recycled and reused in a safe, scientific and environmentally sound way.

The bill provides a basis for voluntary product stewardship as an avenue for encouraging and recognising unregulated industry action. It provides for the use of a Commonwealth product stewardship logo, which will encourage industry to bring forward voluntary arrangements and will provide a means through which consumers may identify accredited products.

It also provides a basis for a co-regulated approach to product stewardship, which involves a combination of government regulation and industry action. The co-regulated approach will provide industry with flexibility in how they achieve their minimum outcomes and operational requirements. It may also be applied in situations where a substantial part of an industry wants to take action but is concerned about the remainder of the industry freely benefiting from their efforts.

Finally, product stewardship will provide the basis to establish mandatory product stewardship schemes. Such schemes could require that specified actions be taken with regard to the reuse, recycling, treatment or disposal of particular products, or even prohibit the manufacture or importing of products deemed to contain hazardous substances. Australia's waste is not only growing but its nature is also rapidly changing. Today televisions, computers, mobile phones and fluorescent lamps are consumed in mass amounts. Goods are becoming increasingly complex and now contain materials that cannot be reused and are potentially hazardous. Furthermore, these particular products have their expected longevity drastically reduced and, therefore, greatly contribute to Australia's waste stream. I have to say I experienced this very recently when I purchased a DVD player which was very cheap. It broke down within, perhaps, about three months, so I took it back for repair. They said that it was much cheaper to buy a new product and that it was not something that you repair, you just buy a new one. These things are only meant to last for about a year. It is important to note that these products are becoming a problem. The short-life products are now placing a disproportionate burden on the general community rather than solely on those who benefit from their use. Product stewardship rebalances this burden by placing responsibility across the manufacture, consumption and disposal chain.

Product stewardship programs are already in place in many other parts of the world such as Europe and Asia where it applies to electrical equipment, packaging, batteries and chemical products. Australia also has many individual instances of product stewardship. For example, South Australia introduced a mandatory deposit refund scheme on drink containers in 1977, and a similar scheme is now being implemented in the Northern Territory.

The current existence of differing rules and regulations that apply to products sold in Australia is both unnecessary and inefficient. Attempts to reduce Australia's waste will benefit greatly from a consistent piece of legislation governing the manufacture of products and materials. A national approach to product stewardship also has a huge financial advantage over state based regulations.

The scheme will be very important, and it will be rolled out in Australia over a five-year period by the television and computer industry, who fully support the scheme. The product stewardship scheme, as part of the national waste scheme, is the result of extensive stakeholder and community consultation. It has been endorsed, as I said, by all Australian governments and has received broad support from business and industry communities.

I believe this is landmark legislation and I take this opportunity to congratulate the Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water for the work that he has done on this in bringing it to the House. I am pleased to hear that the opposition will support this bill because it is a very important bill. Usually they oppose, but they are going to support this bill and I certainly welcome that. I commend the bill to the House.