Environment
EPBC Review highlights the need for stronger First Nations heritage protection
Mon 20 July 2020It is imperative that all governments to do more to ensure that the cultural heritage of First Nations Australians is respected and protected, through processes that ensure full and proper First Nations participation and self-determination.
Read more...Review of waste-product stewardship regulation – two years late
Thu 9 July 2020Labor welcomes the findings of the review into the Product Stewardship Act (PSA) which is two years late and shows there is much to be done and no time to waste.
Read more...Recycling investment better late than never
Mon 6 July 2020Labor welcomes today’s announcement by the government that the Commonwealth will invest $190 million into a Recycling Modernisation Fund through a set of shared funding arrangements with the states, territories, and industry. But it means the Morrison Government has waited more than a year to come forward with any meaningful support to what is clearly a national waste crisis.
Read more...World Oceans Day
Mon 8 June 2020World Oceans Day is the opportunity to consider the vital and essential role of oceans in sustaining life on our blue planet, and to recognise the harm we are doing to marine ecosystems and our climate through human impact.
Read more...Morrison’s $167 million waste package draws a big blank
Tue 19 May 2020The Morrison Government’s signature funding commitments to address Australia’s waste crisis have not advanced a single dollar since they were announced last May, as confirmed in responses to Labor’s questions in Senate Estimates.
Read more...Another missed opportunity, another empty package from the Government on waste
Sat 14 March 2020Since that time the government has received a report that indicates there will need to be a 400% increase in recycling infrastructure, and held a Plastic Waste Summit at which no clear policy or funding was announced. The ‘response strategy’ issued yesterday simply restates the details of the government’s $167M so-called Recycling Investment Package, of which $100M […]
Read more...Government’s plastics plan is shiny but flimsy
Mon 2 March 2020Since the May election the waste recovery and recycling industry has suffered further blows with the closure of facilities in NSW and Victoria, and the impact of fires on infrastructure in Victoria and WA. In what is becoming a pattern for this government, Scott Morrison’s earnest speech about the scourge of ocean plastic slid over […]
Read more...Clean Up Australia Day
Sun 1 March 2020Today, I will be cleaning up at Bardon Park in Maylands on the Swan River foreshore. And while today and every day we can and should all play a part in reducing waste, the greatest scope for change is through national leadership – which is sadly missing from a Morrison Government that continues to offer […]
Read more...States take lead on container deposit scheme
Tue 25 February 2020Federal Labor congratulates the Andrews Labor Government on its decision to introduce a container deposit scheme in Victoria. This announcement means that by 2023 all states and territories in Australia will have implemented a scheme of this kind. Across the country, State and Territory Governments are tackling the growing waste crisis – with investment in […]
Read more...Recycling plant closure shows severity of waste crisis
Thu 13 February 2020We already know that plastic is being stockpiled around the country, which presents a fire risk – as we’ve seen in Western Australia – and in some cases it’s being sent to landfill. The closure of the second largest recycling facility in Sydney shows that market conditions are getting worse and our existing system is getting weaker […]
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