Waste Levies

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (15:23): Supplementary, Mr President. Given the minister's answer, can he explain why he has tens of millions of dollars from the levy sitting in an account, not delivering one improvement whatsoever to exactly his concern?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:23): The honourable member clearly doesn't want to do this work for himself so let me educate him. The EPA collects two levies, both relating to the disposal of waste: the solid waste levy and the liquid waste levy. A levy is payable by the licence holder of a waste depot for all solid and liquid waste received that is to be disposed of at that depot. The levies provide a financial incentive for industry to seek alternatives to disposal for waste products. That is the first key point that the honourable member does not understand.

In an ideal world the community and industry would seek to re-use all materials that are in the waste stream but, in the meantime, the government will use a waste levy so that the cost of disposing products to landfill provides a trigger for industry to develop other options. This incentive will be the driver for the development of recycling and re-use industries to provide long-term alternatives to simply disposing of products.

The question is: what is the figure that provides that trigger? We still have examples where it is financially and logistically easier for businesses to dispose of products to landfill, which indicates that there is still a requirement to manage the levy value to provide the best balance between disposal and recycling and re-use. This recognises that, for some waste streams, disposal to landfill is the safest and best option—of course it does.

There is a strong argument that the waste levy should be consistent from one state to the next, particularly if they have centres of population relatively close to each other. If South Australia had lower waste levy fees, it could provide an incentive for those within the waste industry to bring their waste from interstate to deposit it here. This is a concern for Queensland, as I mentioned, which has recently removed its waste levy. We have had anecdotal evidence from members of the industry who I met with in recent times who have told us how the Queensland government have removed the waste levy and it is creating all sorts of problems for the industry across the border between New South Wales and Queensland.

The payment of levies is calculated as follows: for the solid waste levy, the tonnage of waste received is measured using specific calculation methods and reporting requirements depending on the size and location of the landfill; for the liquid waste levy, it is the volume in kilolitres that is measured and reported on. As at 30 June 2013, the levies were $47 per tonne for metropolitan Adelaide and $23.50 per tonne for non-metropolitan Adelaide for the solid waste levy, and $17.95 per kilolitre for the liquid waste levy.

In line with the announcement by government in 2013-14, the 2014-15 budget includes an increase in metropolitan Adelaide’s solid waste levy to $52 a tonne, up from $47 a tonne; and $26 per tonne in non-metropolitan Adelaide, up from $23.50. The liquid waste depot levy increases to $23.45 per kilolitre for 2014-15 in both metropolitan Adelaide and regional areas. It is also used to support the Environment Protection Authority in administering the Environment Protection Act 1993, including licensing, waste tracking and compliance.

As has been stated previously by this government, part of the funds collected are placed in general revenue which contributes to funding for hospitals, schools, police and a myriad other services for the benefit of the South Australian community.

The solid waste levy is spent on waste-related activities. The levy, as an economic incentive, is one of a suite of tools the government is using to support South Australia’s Strategic Plan target of a 35 per cent reduction of waste to landfill by 2020. The levy is collected by the EPA, with 50 per cent of the levy transferred to the Waste to Resources Fund; 5 per cent of the total levy revenue is provided to the Environment Protection Fund.

The waste revenue levy funds a range of EPA priority projects and programs, including the development and implementation of waste policy such as the Environment Protection (Waste to Resources) Policy 2010. Other projects include the management of site contamination legislation and the Illegal Dumping Unit, which is very active in investigating illegal waste operations.

With that more detailed explanation, I hope the honourable member will finally understand how important these levies are to drive industry into the future.

The PRESIDENT: I can understand why the members on the crossbench would be pretty disappointed with today’s question time. Only two questions were given to the crossbench and only eight questions were asked altogether. I think it is way below the standard we would expect from this council.