Bills

Single-Use and Other Plastic Products (Waste Avoidance) Bill

Final Stages

The Legislative Council agreed to the bill with the amendments indicated by the following schedule, to which amendments the Legislative Council desires the concurrence of the House of Assembly:

No. 1. New clause, page 7, after line 23—After clause 13 insert:

13A—Annual report by Minister

(1) The Minister must, on or before 30 September in each year (other than in the year in which this section comes into operation), prepare a report on the operation of the provisions of this Act for the financial year ending on the preceding 30 June that includes the following:

(a) information regarding the extent to which the Act has achieved the objects set out in section 5;

(b) information regarding consideration given to including additional plastic products within the ambit of the definition of prohibited plastic product by regulation pursuant to section 6(1)(h);

(c) the number of reports or complaints received from members of the public in relation to breaches or purported breaches of the Act;

(d) information regarding the measures taken by authorised officers in relation to monitoring compliance with the Act;

(e) information regarding any enforcement action taken by authorised officers under the Act including—

(i) the number of persons issued with expiation notices for the purposes of the Act and the general nature of the notices; and

(ii) the number of persons charged with an offence against the Act and the general nature of the charges;

(f) the Authority's assessment of the impact of any exemption granted under this Act on the goal of reducing single-use plastics in this State.

(2) The initial report prepared under subsection (1) must include information regarding consideration given to including the following additional plastic products within the ambit of the definition of prohibited plastic product by regulation pursuant to section 6(1)(h):

(a) single-use plastic cups (including coffee cups);

(b) single-use plastic food containers;

(c) single-use plastic bowls;

(d) single-use plastic plates;

(e) plastic lids of single-use coffee cups;

(f) plastic balloon sticks;

(g) plastic balloon ties;

(h) plastic-stemmed cotton buds;

(i) plastic bags.

(3) The Minister must, within 12 sitting days after completing the report under subsection (1), cause copies of the report to be laid before both Houses of Parliament and published on a website determined by the Minister.

No. 2. New clause, page 8, after line 36—After clause 17 insert:

18—Review of Act

(1) The Minister must, as soon as practicable after the third anniversary of the commencement of this Act, appoint a person to prepare a report on—

(a) the effect on the community of Part 2 and Part 3 of the Act; and

(b) any public information campaigns conducted by or on behalf of the Government on reducing the use of plastic products and increasing the recycling of plastics; and

(c) any other matters determined by the Minister to be relevant to the review of this Act.

(2) The person must report to the Minister within 6 months after the person's appointment.

(3) The Minister must, within 12 sitting days after receiving the report under this section, cause copies of the report to be laid before both Houses of Parliament.

Mr PICTON: Deputy Speaker, I draw your attention to the state of the house.

A quorum having been formed:

Consideration in committee.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: I move:

That the Legislative Council's amendments be agreed to.

The CHAIR: We have two amendments from the Legislative Council. Minister for Environment, would you like to indicate if you wish to deal with these separately or together?

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Together.

The CHAIR: Do you wish to speak to these amendments?

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Yes, I will speak very briefly to these amendments. It is a historic day in South Australia with the approaching passage of the Single-use and Other Plastic Products (Waste Avoidance) Bill 2020. It is great to be able to say that we will be the first jurisdiction in Australia to ban a range of single-use plastics. That really solidifies our role as the leading jurisdiction when it comes to waste management and resource recovery.

Back in 1977, South Australia was the first place in the nation to put a container deposit scheme together, allowing 5¢ at the time and later 10¢ returns on a range of cans and bottles. In 2008, we phased out those lightweight single-use plastic bags in supermarkets. Now we have certainly responded to the community's desire to see government lift its game when it comes to single-use plastics, and we have put in place legislation that will phase out a whole range of single-use plastics in the coming months and years.

Because of COVID-19 and the particular challenges that have been put on small business operators in South Australia, we are going to see this legislation start in a few months' time once business has the opportunity to absorb the challenges of the COVID-19 era. It is my belief, and I am very confident, that many businesses will respond to the challenge quickly and they will respond to consumer demand.

To be honest, many are headed in that direction already, looking for alternatives and working through what their customers are after when it comes to re-usable, compostable or alternative products to straws, to drink stirrers, to takeaway containers and to coffee cups. Indeed, we will be looking at these other items in the future.

We have set up this legislation so that it can easily be added to in the future as consumer demand drives or as alternatives become apparent in the marketplace. One of the great things about this legislation is that South Australia is saying very clearly to the market that we want to be the place where these alternatives are manufactured so that, when the other states catch up, it can lead to job creation here.

It has been great to be able to work across the parties within this place to see a bipartisan approach to this legislation. I thank the deputy leader, the shadow minister, for her contribution and the Hon. Mark Parnell in the other place for his contribution as well.

This is a historic step forward. We hope that other jurisdictions will follow us, and that this is just the beginning of South Australia phasing out a whole range of single-use plastics. We know they are harmful to the environment. The South Australian community wants change, and it is great to be able to lead that change. With that, I accept these amendments.

Dr CLOSE: I am pleased to also support these amendments, which were moved in one form earlier in this chamber but not passed. They are now returned to us complete and supported by all sides of parliament, which is excellent. I am very pleased about this piece of legislation coming through. I think it speaks very well to the future of South Australia and also to its proud tradition of leading the nation with CDL as well as with attempts—and finally success—in removing single-use plastic bags.

To briefly go to the content of these amendments, one initiative the Hon. Mark Parnell in the other place—an outstanding member of this parliament—wanted to advance was to extend the range of products that would, by virtue of this legislation, be removed from circulation. I appreciate that the government has designed a bill that does not require a return to parliament to add additional products, that lists an initial series of products and then allows for regulation to extend that list. However, I think the Hon. Mark Parnell was concerned that that might never be used, and that he or his successors in this place would not be in a position to be able to extend it without opening up the act in defiance of the government wish.

We talked about what one could do about that, and the Hon. Mark Parnell had a desire to simply add to the initial list. Although we were very sympathetic to the idea of removing many of these items from circulation, it would be difficult for business, having engaged in consultation with the government where they had understood that a certain list was being supported, to then discover there was an additional requirement. We felt that was of particular concern in the context of the pandemic.

The solution I proposed was that, as part of a proposition to have the minister report annually, the first report would be required to indicate where the government had reached in looking at these additional products. As the Hon. Mark Parnell has indicated, these products have already been banned if not by the EU as a whole then by many nations within the EU—and it may, in fact, be the entire EU. I think we have reached a reasonable accommodation there, and the opposition is happy to support that amendment.

The second amendment is about reviewing the act. It is important that we understand that while there is much self-congratulation here—and it is not unearned—to have this piece of legislation, the rapidity with which community sentiment is moving about protection of the environment and about recognising the dangers of plastic requires us to make sure that no government can simply say, 'Well, that job is done and now we can think about other things.' The job of dealing with plastics is not done, so the idea of having a review ensures there is a focus applied to this bill to see that it remains fit for purpose.

It would be my bet that any changes made would be only in the direction of further addressing the problem of plastic and towards better protection for the environment in concert with community desire. The opposition is very pleased to see the bill come back and very pleased that the government has now decided to support both amendments.

Motion carried.