Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

It is a reality that state, territory and local governments have primary responsibility for waste management and recycling. We acknowledge that this is a critically important issue for Australia, and the Australian government is identifying where Commonwealth intervention can best support states and territories in their responses, both over the short and longer terms. I've already outlined the extensive representations that Australia has made in relation to our engagement with China over this issue, and those representations and that work continue. I would also note that Australia exports recyclable materials to over 100 countries, and preliminary analysis indicates that about 70 per cent of that waste, by volume, exported from Australia in categories affected by China's waste import restrictions has indeed been sent to other nations such as Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong and Bangladesh.