Waste Recycling

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:44): One man's trash is another man's treasure—that is recycling, Mr President. My supplementary question is: what impact does the minister think the closure of the plastics granulation plant in South Australia as a result of high electricity prices will have on recyclable products stockpiling in South Australia?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:45): Again, the honourable Leader of the Opposition comes to this place with incorrect statements. He obviously did not listen to the answer the Hon. Kyam Maher gave him when the question was asked in this place a couple of days ago. I have said several times that this is an organisation that has received government grants. The Hon. Kyam Maher went through some of those. They are an organisation that lost its supplier, and, as I may have said in this place or in other places, about 70 per cent of its product came from interstate, industry and other providers. They do not, as far as I am aware at least, have a major component of their business that relates to kerbside recycle or indeed recycling very much of South Australian plastic.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The minister will answer the question.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: You rant and you rave and you know nothing about what you are speaking about. I will give the honourable member some more details. Plastic Granulating Services faced a number of business pressures that ultimately contributed to its decision to go into liquidation. I am informed that these included the withdrawal by a major interstate supplier of plastic feedstock for processing at the PGS facility. In addition, PGS has been impacted by the federal government's decision to drive Holden's out of town. For example, the closure of Exide Batteries in 2014 impacted the company's revenue, and PGS is also a direct supplier, I am advised, to Holden's.

These pressures have culminated in the company being placed into voluntary liquidation. I am advised that this occurred in mid-June of this year. At my request, the presiding member and chief executive of Green Industries SA met with PGS on 27 June to ascertain what further assistance GISA may be able to offer during this difficult time. I am advised that, because the company had already been placed into liquidation, there was a limit to what could be done. However, notwithstanding that, GISA's officers canvassed a number of options, all of which were noted, I am advised, by the liquidator.

It is indeed unfortunate that a business of this nature has gone into liquidation, but we need to wait to see what the outcome is. It could well be that the business is taken over by someone else who can operate the business and re-employ those people who were there. This is, after all, a billion dollar industry that employs about 5,000 South Australians. Let's not forget that commercial and industrial plastics of the kind processed by PGS have a value.

We are also driving incentives for re-use and recycling through our reforms of the waste levy and we will be driving those reforms to a higher level with a bill that I gave notice of earlier today, which will be discussed in this place over the coming weeks. Our changes have seen South Australia achieve the best recycling rate in the country—over 81.5 per cent in the latest returns—and I have to say that, whilst it is extremely disturbing that a plastic recycling company based here has gone into liquidation, they have been under pressure because of their supply and because some of their customers have been chased out of town by the federal Liberal government, which has flow-on impacts on South Australian industries, and the Liberals seem not to care a jot.