Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) | Hansard source

I correct myself—he has chaired five Senate inquiries into this issue over a decade. The evidence has been gathered. The community has spoken. Industry itself is increasingly supporting mandatory reform, which is really encouraging. That is a remarkable legacy that he's passing the baton on. I just want to note that evidence received from the EPA said that this wouldn't be complicated to implement. It could take between six to 12 months. So what are we waiting for—six to 12 months to make an enormous difference for our communities, for our marine ecosystems, for our oceans and for humans who are ingesting this crap. We're running out of excuses. We need political will now.

In 2022, Australia's environment ministers committed to reforming packaging regulation. Four years on—tick, tock—Australians are still waiting. Excuse the pun, but there is no time to waste. This bill gives parliament an opportunity to finally put responsibility where it belongs—with the companies that design, that produce and that profit from packaging—while creating the certainty we need to build a genuinely circular economy with less waste in our streets and our oceans, less demand for virgin plastics, more recycling and reuse, new markets, new jobs and a cleaner environment for future generations and every living organism that we share this planet with.

I thank Senator Whish-Wilson for his incredible persistence. There is enormous respect for him from across the sector and I'm sure from across the aisles, frankly, if we're honest. This is a commonsense policy. How many more inquiries do we need to have? How much more talk do we need to have in this place to do what that 70 per cent of Australians want us to do? So thank you, Senator Whish-Wilson. Thank you to the advocates and the community campaigners who have refused to let this issue disappear and I know aren't going anywhere. We will win this. It's just a question of how many shearwaters and turtles lose their lives before we get this outcome. But we're not going anywhere.

How many more Senate inquiries do we need to have? I hope not many. I hope that the government sees the light on this—that they see the common sense and act for our environment and for our communities who are demanding action. It is not enough to keep asking Australians to clean up the mess they made. We must change the system that creates the waste in the first place. Thank you again, Senator Whish-Wilson.