Toxfree Australia Pty Ltd

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:41): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: I ask this question on behalf of the local member for Yorke Peninsula, Mr Griffiths (the member for Goyder). Members of the community and the Wakefield Regional Council have significant concerns with an import permit that has been granted to Toxfree Australia Pty Ltd to transport up to 50,000 litres of hazardous waste from Papua New Guinea to New South Wales, and from there to Wingfield where it will be treated and transported for disposal at the Inkerman landfill.

On 7 October, the South Australian Environment Protection Authority and the minister's office provided the member for Goyder with a briefing on the permit granted to Toxfree Australia Pty Ltd. At that meeting, the EPA advised the member for Goyder that they had requested from the federal government details of the permit, specifically how a permit could be issued without consideration of the contract requirements—in this case, a transportation contract with Transpacific International—and real liaison with them, the EPA. At that meeting, the EPA also advised that Toxfree Australia had yet to apply to the SA EPA to transport hazardous waste into South Australia.

The federal parliamentary secretary to the Minister for the Environment, Senator  Simon  Birmingham, advised in a letter received on 14 November that the EPA had not approached the Department of the Environment seeking an explanation for the permit being granted to Toxfree. He also advises that EPA SA was fully engaged in the process and provided key input to the assessment of the Toxfree application for an import permit. My questions to the minister are:

1. Can the minister confirm if the South Australian Environment Protection Authority was involved in the assessment of the Toxfree Australia application for an import permit, including assessment of any contracts in place between Toxfree Australia and Transpacific International?

2. Can the minister advise if Toxfree Australia Pty Ltd has applied to the SA EPA to transport hazardous waste into South Australia and, if so, when was the application received by the EPA?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:43): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. The commonwealth government has authorised Toxfree Australia Pty Ltd to transport up to 50,000 litres of hazardous waste from Papua New Guinea to New South Wales, and from there by land to Wingfield, SA, where it will be treated, producing a non-hazardous solid residue.

I understand that the amount of isocyanate waste equates to less than 1 per cent of the liquid waste that is presently treated at the Wingfield facility. The Transpacific facility in Wingfield is authorised to collect, handle and treat isocyanate wastes. This information is freely available on the public register and can be accessed via the EPA website. The EPA licence is 15195. After treatment and confirmation of the absence of free isocyanates in residual waste, the solid waste is disposed of within a custom-built and EPA-approved cell at the Inkerman landfill.

The process for approving the waste disposal was subject to section 33 of the commonwealth Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1989, and a permit was granted to Toxfree on 8 September 2014. This was a decision of the commonwealth government. Toxfree is still, I am advised, required to apply to the EPA to transport this waste prior to it entering South Australia, and I am advised that this has not yet happened.

The EPA has been advised that Toxfree and Transpacific International are in discussions to confirm whether the isocyanate waste product will be disposed of at the Inkerman landfill. Isocyanates are a group of chemicals used widely in the production of paints and coatings to weather resistant surfaces, I am told. They are also used to make building materials, including flexible foams and adhesives, and in the production of manufactured goods such as bedding.

In South Australia, isocyanates are widely used in the automotive and foam manufacturing industries, I am also advised. These industries produce isocyanate wastes, which are collected by licensed waste disposal companies such as Transpacific for treatment and then disposal according to their EPA licence. The typical treatment technologies used to dispose of isocyanate wastes are incineration or neutralisation. Both solid residues are then disposed to one of the three highly engineered landfills in South Australia. As I say, my advice is that Toxfree has yet to apply to the EPA for a licence to transport and, again, this was a decision of the commonwealth government.