PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Dr SCAMPS (Mackellar) (11:00): I move: That this House: (1) notes that: (a) Australia is among the highest producers of single-use plastic waste per capita in the world; (b) the majority of plastic waste is sent to landfill, causing environmental and public health harm; (c) there are growing concerns about the health impacts of plastics, including microplastics and associated toxins; (d) existing voluntary approaches have failed to meaningfully reduce plastic waste or ensure producer accountability for packaging; (e) there is broad support for a national, mandatory Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme for plastics and packaging to require producers to take responsibility for the full lifecycle of their products, including from industry, environmental stakeholders and the public; and (f) multiple parliamentary inquiry reports have recommended the Government establish a stronger or nationally legislated EPR scheme for plastics and packaging, including the: (i) Impact of microplastics and other toxics on human health report (2026); (ii) No Time To Waste report (2025); and (iii) Drowning in Waste report (2024); and (2) calls on the Government, as a matter of urgency, to make rules under the Recycling and Waste Reduction Act 2020 to establish a mandatory, national EPR scheme for plastics, which would include: (a) binding targets for waste reduction, reuse, recycling and recycled content; (b) eco-modulated fees based on material type and volume; (c) a producer-funded soft plastics scheme; (d) bans on harmful materials and chemicals in plastics; and (e) independent enforcement mechanisms to monitor compliance and impose penalties for non-compliance.
This motion pertains to one of the biggest environmental challenges of our time—plastic waste—and it calls for definitive action by our federal government to address the plastic crisis with a legislated extended producer responsibility scheme, or EPRS. The plastic crisis is threefold: environmental, climate and health. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, three times the size of France, is just one of five massive accumulations of plastic waste in our oceans.
Closer to home, waterways in Mackellar, including Dee Why Lagoon and Middle Creek rank amongst the most microplastic polluted in New South Wales. Plastic production is also fuelling climate change, with petrochemicals projected to drive nearly half of oil demand growth in the future, and the health risks are mounting, with microplastics now found throughout the human body, including in brains, placentas and breast milk.
And there is growing evidence for a link between plastic chemicals and the alarming increase in cancers in young people, as well as hormonal disruption, child developmental issues and infertility. In medicine, when the weight of evidence points to preventable harm, we act. With the collapse of the UN global plastics treaty, global plastics consumption is projected to grow twice as fast as the world's waste management capacity.
As a high-ambition nation in those treaty negotiations, Australia must act decisively to address the problem in our own capacity, as many other nations have already done. That is why the member for Curtin and I are launching our plastics policy this week, calling on the government to take a number of practical steps to address the plastics crisis, including introducing a mandatory extended producer responsibility scheme.
The call for an EPRS to be established in Australia comes at a rare moment of hope in public policy. We don't always see those calling for stronger environmental and health protections standing shoulder to shoulder with the very industry that will be regulated, but that is where we are today. Groups including the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation, which represents brand owners and packaging manufacturers, are calling for an EPRS alongside environmental organisations.
And the public backs this too. Polling released just last week found Australians across the political spectrum strongly support action to reduce unnecessary packaging. Nearly two-thirds want the companies that produce and sell packaged products to take responsibility for the waste they create throughout its life cycle, including the cost of collection, recycling, reuse and disposal.
An extended producer responsibility scheme is a critical part of the solution to the plastics crisis. Australia is one of the highest producers of single-use plastic waste per person in the world. But shockingly, we only recycle around 14 per cent of that.
Our voluntary approach has comprehensively failed. Australia has missed every single one of our national targets set in 2018. A mandatory EPRS would create a financial incentive to reduce unnecessary packaging, improve recyclability, invest in re-use systems and fund improvements to recovery infrastructure.
It would also be fairer. Today, households pay an estimated $70 to $95 a year through council rates and levies to manage packaging waste. Meanwhile, the companies that generate the packaging bear none of that cost or responsibility.
Industry modelling estimates that an Australian EPRS would add just 25c a week to the average grocery bill. And, as producers assume greater responsibility for packaging waste, the other costs currently borne by households will fall. In 2022, Australia's environment ministers committed to reforming packaging regulation.
Yet here we are, nearly four years on, and no laws have been delivered. The case for reform has been made time and time again. The government's own 2024 consultation found that more than 80 per cent of respondents support Commonwealth regulation of packaging.
Multiple parliamentary inquiries have all reached the same conclusion: there is strong support for a mandatory EPRS to be adopted in Australia. We cannot afford to wait. Every day we delay, more unnecessary plastic ends up in our environment.
The solution is there. The support is there. It's time the government got on with the job.
Time expired. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Mascarenhas ): Is there a seconder for the motion? Ms Chaney: I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.