Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, I seek leave to incorporate my speech on the second reading debate in Hansard. I thought I was going to have a chance to deliver it. It is a very short speech.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

For decades we’ve been espousing the importance of recycling and this Bill introduces measures which encourage this.

Container deposit legislation has numerous benefits.

It encourages recycling, it reduces litter, it provides economic incentive to clean it up and it provides income to individuals and organisations who collect bottles and cans.

In 1975, South Australia passed container deposit legislation and, in 2003, amended the legislation to expand the scheme to capture an even broader range of beverage containers.

This scheme is working effectively.

It has a recovery rate of over 80 percent of containers, with 1.5 tonnes per person recycled per year.

Last year, the Northern Territory Government announced plans to implement its own scheme by the end of 2011, similar to that in operation in South Australia, and it’s time for the rest of the States and Territories to follow suit.

This legislation is a national scheme that all States and Territories can sign up to, where a 10 cent deposit would apply to the sale of each eligible beverage container, with the deposit paid to the department.

Upon ‘return’ to an authorised collection depots or transfer stations, the recycler would receive 10cents and the Department overseeing the scheme would refund the money to them.

And any unclaimed deposits or funds would be retained by the Department and used to invest in infrastructure for the scheme.

On all accounts, this is a good proposal.

This Bill will reduce litter and waste and the amount that goes into landfill, it provides economic incentives and it’s proven to work not just in South Australia but in countries around the world.

Debate interrupted.