Fiona Martin (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

We are so fortunate in this country to have such an amazing natural environment. From dense rainforest to barren deserts, the sea to the bush, we are truly very, very lucky. However, with this great fortune comes great responsibility. We must protect our environment and ensure the next generation can enjoy it just as we have. A fundamental part of this responsibility is how we look after our waste. We know that Australians want to do the right thing and ensure that what they put in their recycling bin does not end up in landfill or cause harm to the environment. There is no point encouraging people to recycle if they can't even ensure it will be disposed of properly. The federal government has listened and is delivering.

We are the only country in the world that has banned the export of unprocessed waste glass for disposal overseas, and we will shortly ban unsorted and unprocessed plastics, tyres, paper and cardboard being disposed of overseas. Since the ban was agreed, exports of plastic waste alone have fallen by around 5,000 tonnes per month. Australia's first ever waste and recycling laws put Australia's world-leading waste export ban in place and create unprecedented economic opportunities, encouraging best practice in product stewardship and protecting our marine environment. An over $1 billion transformation of our waste and recycling industry will create 10,000 jobs and divert 10 million tonnes of waste from landfill. This will turbo charge our waste management and recycling sector to recover and remanufacture waste materials.

The federal government's investment in the Recycling Modernisation Fund and measures to support the National Waste Policy Action Plan will create 10,000 new jobs over the next 10 years by expanding Australia's recycling industry and infrastructure. The 10,000 job figure is based on jobs created by increased recycling onshore as a result of this export ban, construction related to investment in infrastructure and increasing the current resource recovery rate to 80 per cent by 2030 in line with the National Waste Policy Action Plan.

Last year, environment minister, Sussan Ley, joined me in Reid for Clean Up Australia Day. At this event, I had a chance to speak with local community organisations like Our Living River, an initiative run by the Parramatta River catchment group to help make the Parramatta River swimmable again by 2025. Only a few weeks before that, I met with the youngest Riverkeeper Ambassador, Hannah Chalmers, who is a PLC Sydney primary school student and a descendent of Sir Edmund Barton. Hannah has won awards for her environmental app, the Green Elephant, and I have spoken at length in this place about the work that groups and individuals, especially our young people, are doing in Reid to protect our environment. I will continue to support their grassroots work.

Each year 800,000 tonnes of clothing and textiles are discarded by Australians. That's an average of 31kgs of textiles per person annually at a national rate of 15 tonnes of textile waste every 10 minutes. This is simply too much waste. The federal government will host a national roundtable on textile waste, bringing together the fashion industry, retailers, re-use charities, fibre producers, researchers and waste management experts to stop dumping clothes in landfill. This will go a long way, with $350,000 also being invested to support circular threads, a new group to be led by the Australasian Circular Textiles.

Food waste is another area where our society can do better. Each year, Australians waste around 7.3 million tonnes of food. That is about 300 kilograms per person. The federal government is committed to reducing Australia's food waste by 50 per cent by 2030. We are doing this not only because it will benefit our environment and our economy but because it is also the right thing to do. The government launched the National Food Waste Strategy in 2017 and in December 2020 added to that by establishing a pact called Stop Food Waste Australia. The purpose of this pact is to help industry drive change. One of its key actions will be to deliver a voluntary commitment program. Under this program, businesses will commit to reducing their food waste and will receive support to achieve their goal.

I will continue to use my voice in this place to advocate policy change which protects our environment so we can leave it in a much better place than we found it.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:31

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