Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to all honourable members for their contributions and their questions. In answer to some of the questions from the member for Fremantle just then, our minister is an unquestionable champion for Australia's environment, as is the whole government. I refer members opposite and everyone who is passionate about the environment and its protection in this country to the minister's Press Club speech given just yesterday, which was an incredibly passionate, thoughtful and powerful speech.

The member for Fremantle has asked questions about the direct investments of our government into the recycling sector. I'd like to inform all members that, in the 10 years before this federal government stepped more heavily into waste and recycling policies with the creation of my assistant ministry in 2019, the total Commonwealth government spending over those 10 years was $30 million. So the average yearly expenditure in this area by federal governments, including many of the years when those opposite were last in government, amounted to approximately $3 million per year. Since 2019 our government has committed over $500 million. So, if my rough maths is accurate, we're talking about something like a 10,000 per cent increase in funding for waste and recycling policies, investments, infrastructure and projects over the last couple of years compared to the years when those opposite were in power. I know the vast majority of the waste and recycling sectors are very supportive of our initiatives and funding. They're voting with their wallets and their feet in making their own co-investments in this space.

Can I also very quickly speak to the question from the member for Bass regarding feral pests and weeds. I inform the member that $29.1 million of additional funding is being invested in programs by this government to protect native species from the horrific threats posed by invasive pest animals and weeds in our natural environment. This funding is part of the broader $400 million biosecurity package announced in this year's budget, and the Commonwealth government will be working with natural resource management groups and Indigenous rangers through on-the-ground action and research to deliver new and innovative measures. It was really great to hear from the member for Bass about the success to date of one of the CEP projects along these lines being rolled out in her electorate of Bass.

The new funding that was announced in this budget complements existing investments in bushfire recovery for native wildlife and habitat, safe havens and a new 10-year threatened species strategy. This year's budget delivers on the next stage of the government's economic plan to secure Australia's recovery from the pandemic, including, as I was referring to earlier, significant reforms, significant initiatives, significant co-funding and significant direct investments in the waste and recycling sector.

I also want to acknowledge and congratulate the member for Bass for her leadership and her interest when it comes to waste and recycling policies, her interest in the circular economy and her role as the co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Waste and Recycling. She truly is a waste warrior. I believe the member for Corangamite opposite is the other co-chair, so due credit to the member there as well.

Having legislated the world-leading laws to end the export of contaminated waste streams like mixed plastics, our government has been incredibly busy in driving a massive transformation of this sector in our nation. In total, with the direct funding that's being provided by this government, the co-funding that's being provided by states and territories and the co-investments that we've been able to leverage from industry, we're now talking about close to a $1 billion transformation of Australia's waste and recycling sectors. This level of investment being made in our country in a modern recycling sector is unprecedented. With the Recycling Modernisation Fund of this government and the waste export bans which are coming into place sequentially over the course of this year and future years, we're talking about more than $600 million of co-investment, including those investments that have been delivered from the private sector, from the waste and recycling sectors, as I say, voting with their feet and their wallets to support the government's policies.

So far, the Recycling Modernisation Fund has led to the announcement of 52 new recycling infrastructure projects, in the ACT, in Victoria, in New South Wales, in South Australia and in WA, to recycle our waste plastics, our glass, our tyres and our paper. Watch this space very soon, all honourable members, for announcements about more Recycling Modernisation Fund projects relating to Tasmania and Queensland. I wish I had more time to fill in the detail.

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