PLASTIC SHOPPING BAGS

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (14:15): Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for MacKillop! The member for Ashford.

The Hon. S.W. KEY: My question is to the Minister for Environment and Conservation. As the minister knows, Foodbank SA is in the electorate of Ashford, so I am particularly interested to know how the government's donation of re-usable bags to Foodbank has been received.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Minister for Environment and Conservation, Minister for Early Childhood Development, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister Assisting the Premier in Cabinet Business and Public Sector Management) (14:16): I thank the honourable member for her question. I also thank her for the rather fetching re-usable bag that she sent me. She has taken to the plastic bag ban with alacrity. She has, in fact, decided to embrace the plastic bag ban with such vigour that she has distributed some of her own bags to members of her electorate, which I think is a very fine idea.

As I informed the house yesterday, this step towards a cleaner environment has been an enormous success. Indeed, as a consequence of this initiative, 400 million fewer bags will end up in our landfill. In implementing the ban, we wanted to make sure that we reduced some of the burden on people who are doing it a bit tough. That is why, as the honourable member mentioned, we gave 5,000 bags to charities across the state. Another 3,000 were generously donated by the Green Bag company at the time.

Those bags were distributed through Foodbank SA, which is doing a great job in getting these bags to charities. Charities handing out the free bags have reported a really positive response.

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The member for Finniss, in fact, represents an island that embraced the plastic bag ban well ahead of the rest of the state. It is a pity that he could not persuade his colleagues to get on board with that important initiative. They are very environmentally conscious over there on the island.

The charities that were handing out free bags have reported a very positive response from people taking them. Like most South Australians, they are keen to do the right thing by the environment and remember to take re-usable bags to do their shopping. At the time, we said that we would donate more if they were needed and, thanks to the enthusiastic response to our initial donation, we are providing more.

A total of more than 60,000 bags will now be donated to South Australian charities. As with the original donation, these bags will be distributed by Foodbank SA to charities across the state and, again, I thank Foodbank and those charities for their terrific work. The bags will go to needy families throughout South Australia and include donations of 15,000 bags each from Coles and Woolworths along with the original donation of 3,000 bags from the Green Bag company.

I would like to thank those companies for their generosity and also not only the rest of retailers in the state but the whole community which has supported the plastic bag ban, to the great chagrin of those opposite, including the member for MacKillop, who was predicting gloom and doom and from whom we have only heard shrieks of silence.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I remember you said, 'Good luck!' and it was laced with sarcasm.