Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Hansard source

The member from the Labor Party thinks this is tremendously amusing. It is far too practical, common sense and man-on-the-Clapham-bus for the Labor Party to take any interest in these matters these days. What happened to the old Labor Party, who actually cared? What happened to the old Labor Party who used to care about people in their electorates?

With over 72 per cent of Australians intending to purchase plants for their garden during spring, this motion seeks to ensure that these Australians are provided with information on the quality of the compost they intend to buy, creating greater consumer confidence that increases demand for compost across the country. The compost industry in Australia has a turnover of more than $600 million per annum, employs more than 1,900 full-time employees and has an investment in capital of over half a billion dollars. It is growing increasingly larger and developing intellectual property with huge environmental potential. This motion, which seeks to encourage the uptake of compost for private and domestic use, would contribute to the future growth of this important Australian industry. The initiative would contribute to better nourishment of plants and gardens and would have a real impact on the environment by diverting landfill to create quality compost.

The compost industry recycles more than 5.8 million tonnes of organic material each year and has the potential to recycle an additional 13 million tonnes from landfill. Given this extra potential, if the industry's long-run supply curve could shift rightward, reducing landfill, methane and CO2 emissions, then we as policy makers must consider what factors would need to change to increase the demand for compost. This motion recognises the good work that the industry is already doing to rewrite AS 4454, and calls on the government to bring their political will to fast-track this work to ensure the future of this important Australian industry.

Concepts of compost quality and labelling were essentially unknown worldwide as recently as 1985 when governments began understanding the importance of establishing an acceptable framework for the industry to operate in. In 1992 the compost quality seal was established by the German Compost Quality Association. It is suggested that this quality seal provided a good starting point for recognition of quality in the industry and has now been adopted by the European Commission in developing the European Ecolabel seal for soil improvers. Globally, countries are recognising the significant developments that are occurring in the compost industry and are implementing processes for quality control and labelling, including by statutory means, to ensure this emerging sustainable industry is able to flourish.

This motion seeks to support the good work already occurring at an industry level and to maintain Australia's high standards and commitment to composting. I am aware that AS 4454, the Australian Standard on composts, soil conditioners and mulches, is currently being reviewed by industry and that industry are taking steps to ensure labelling and product consistency between jurisdictions in Australia. The industry, and in particular industry bodies such as Compost Australia, should be commended for their significant contribution to the standardisation of procedures in this area, particularly with respect to required markings and health and hazard warning labels, which I am advised are some of the most robust hazard warning labels in the world.

Notwithstanding the good work of the industry to date, it appears that one of the factors that is recognised as presenting a barrier to broader market acceptance of compost has been uncertainty about the consistency of compost. I am aware that this has been recognised in the discussion paper Does AS 4454 adequately benchmark compost quality?required reading for anybody interested in this subject. I am sure the member for Chifley has read this paper. This discussion paper went on to report that:

Analysis of 52 different garden organics end-products showed that the Victorian limit for copper was exceeded on 46% of occasions, 63% of occasions for zinc and 50% of occasions for chromium. These data support the need for a revision of the heavy metal limits used in the Australian Standard for composts, soil conditioners and mulches …

Further, and as members of this House may recall, the first recommendation of the Senate Select Committee on Agricultural and Related Industries in their report on Pricing and supply arrangements in the Australian and global fertiliser market, a catchy title, was that:

… the states and territories should consider, as a matter of priority, adopting uniform description and labelling of fertiliser products to ensure consistency between jurisdictions.

While the compost industry should be applauded for taking steps to standardise the labelling and ingredient requirements of compost products in Australia, the government must also take responsibility. To drive investment in this industry and to support the uptake of compost technologies with lasting environmental benefits, the government must be prepared to roll up its sleeves, to adopt the recommendations of the senate committee's report and to work with the states in developing these compost standards that will see lasting environmental and productivity benefits for Australia. The government must be prepared to stand up for recreational gardeners like my constituent Des Kerr and to ensure that the quality of compost made available for private and domestic use is fit for purpose, with the appropriate ingredient mix and compost labelling. I thank my colleagues who intend to take part in this debate for their support on this motion—the member for Longman and the member for Riverina, and also the Labor members of parliament, who will make inadequate contributions but will do their best. I commend the motion to the House.

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