Waste Management

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (14:55): My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation. Can the minister please update the chamber on how regional South Australia is helping reduce waste going into landfill?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:55): I thank the honourable member and my answer is yes, I can, and now I will. I was recently in Port Pirie, in the member for Frome's electorate, and I would like to inform the chamber that Port Pirie has a fantastic local member, from what I can ascertain from feedback from community meetings that I was in. Rarely a moment went by when the Hon. Geoff Brock wasn't being praised in the local electorate. They see him as having turned around the fortunes in that area and delivering fantastic outcomes for his community. That was the overwhelming feedback that I received during part of my visit in the recent country cabinet in early April.

Port Pirie is, of course, a hive of activity with new projects happening all over the place, and the Hon. Geoff Brock has had a hand in many of these. He is a great champion for his community. Port Pirie council has said that there is more than $30 million worth of capital works planned or underway to enhance public areas. A new luxury hotel, I am advised, is also being planned, and I understand that the supermarket giant, Aldi, is looking to open up in the city as well. This is a number of organisations showing their confidence in the future of the town and the region.

There is also, of course, the upgrade of the Nyrstar smelter, which most members would be aware of: a $660 million investment to transform the Port Pirie smelter into an advanced metal recovery and refinery facility. The upgrades at Nyrstar will see emissions from the plant, particularly in relation to lead, reduced significantly. The new facility will be able to process e-waste. E-waste is a rapidly expanding waste stream but also one that offers new growth opportunities in the re-use, recovery and recycling sector. Recognising the harms that e-waste can cause, along with the tremendous opportunities available from utilising it as a resource, this Labor government has banned e-waste going into landfill, and Nyrstar will capitalise on this government's policies.

The smelter will be able to process, when it is up and running, up to 50,000 tonnes per annum of e-waste and related material. This government is seeking to help Nyrstar by encouraging all other states and territories to also ban e-waste going into landfill. We are also calling for the commonwealth, as I have noted in this place previously, to stop the export of e-waste and instead have Australia's e-waste processed at a state-of-the-art facility, which will be in Port Pirie, which will help create local jobs and sustain them into the future.

I would encourage all honourable members in this place to work with me and the government in relation to stopping the export of e-waste from Australia, particularly into Asia. This smelter is an example of how the region can work to reduce waste. Another is the Port Pirie transfer station that opened in June 2013. This transfer station was built with assistance from, again, this government. I had the pleasure of visiting the station with the mayor, Mr John Rhode, when I was up there for country cabinet. I have learnt that since the station has been in operation, over 3,500 tonnes of waste has been diverted away from landfill. The council is also working closely with KESAB to help improve recycling across the whole region.

The Port Pirie council, again like this government, sees the opportunities in the waste and resource recovery sector and is working to embrace them and to grow employment prospects in this area. We can help to reduce waste, create jobs and boost the local economy by growing this sector. This is a clear message from this government and what I saw in action in the Port Pirie region.

I am very pleased to say that I will again be raising this issue at the ministerial council with my colleagues from interstate and also the commonwealth. It will be a stroke of the pen for the Hon. Josh Frydenberg to prevent any e-waste being sent off to wherever in Asia it is reprocessed. Of course, when it is processed here, the commonwealth government will be able to say that they are upholding the tenets of the Basel Convention, which says, essentially, that countries that have the ability and the facilities should process their waste locally and not export it, particularly to countries where the environmental regulations are not as strong.

I will be undertaking that. I will be very welcoming of any honourable members who would like to take up this issue as well and add their voice to the call to the federal government to prevent the export of e-waste. As I said, when Nyrstar is up and running, they will be able to process, I am advised, the entire e-waste for the whole country.