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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-07-21 Daily Xml
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Single-Use and Other Plastic Products (Waste Avoidance) Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 2 July 2020.)

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (17:49): I rise to speak today on this bill and indicate that I will be the lead speaker for the opposition. Waste is one of the most visible effects of human occupation across the planet, and unfortunately, by many measures, Australia is one of the most wasteful countries in the developed world.

Every year, the average Australian family produces enough rubbish to fill a three-bedroom house, producing about 2.25 kilograms of waste each per day. Eighty-five per cent of soft plastics from bags and packaging end up in landfill, and eight million tonnes of plastics are dumped in the world's oceans each year. Minute traces of human-made chemicals and plastics used in other parts of the world are now being detected in the snow that falls over Antarctica.

South Australia, and in particular the Labor Party in South Australia, have always been leaders in waste management, becoming the first state in Australia to introduce a container deposit scheme, way back in 1977 under the Don Dunstan government. The beverage container act was one of the first pieces of environmental legislation to focus on a polluter-pays principle. The Rann government was also the first in Australia to legislate a ban on lightweight plastic shopping bags in supermarkets in 2009.

Various iterations of waste management strategies have been in place in South Australia for decades, with the 2015-20 version managed by Green Industries meeting most of the targets before the deadline for those strategies. South Australia had the highest diversion rate of waste to recycling in Australia in 2017-18. Of all waste generated in South Australia, 83.6 per cent was diverted from landfill. This equates to just under 4½ million tonnes of material not going to waste. Eighty-six per cent of recovered waste was recycled right here in South Australia.

Since 2003, the recycling rate has improved by nearly 22 per cent, and the resource recovery has increased from approximately two million tonnes to just over 4.4 million tonnes a year. The diversion and recovery rate means that 1¼ million tonnes of greenhouse gases are not being released, which is the same as planting two million trees or taking 316,000 cars off the road each year.

The waste management, resource recovery and recycling sectors provide employment for just under 5,000 South Australians. The market value of recovered resources in 2017-18 was $356 million. Just before the most recent state election, the then Labor government announced a 30-year plan for the future of waste and resource recovery in South Australia, estimating that almost 5,000 extra jobs in waste and recycling could emerge in the future and targeting further reductions.

The opposition is broadly supportive of the proposed legislation. However, I indicate that we will be moving amendments of our own as well as supporting some of the others moved by the Hon. Mark Parnell, which will strengthen the bill and ensure that the effectiveness, or otherwise, of its implementation is known. This is not the end of the process but the beginning.

Consultation with industry, retail and disability groups was undertaken and showed broad support for the bill, with some issues raised in relation to the availability of alternatives, the workability of exemptions and the enforcement of the clauses. I look forward to the committee stage of this bill to investigate some of these concerns and to seek the government's support in strengthening this legislation through a number of the amendments.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (17:53): I rise to support the bill and note that it has been two years since the Greens introduced, in this very place, a bill to ban single-use plastics. It is wonderful to see a significant moment in this parliament where a government introduces such a bill. After a lengthy consultation process, it has been hugely encouraging to see the government moving on a bill such as this. Green ideas into power is why the Greens are here.

It is by now a well-known fact that mind-boggling amounts of plastic rubbish make their way into the environment, leading to horrible pollution and the harming of wildlife and damaging everyone's health. Despite ever-improving awareness and campaigning, our ability to recycle or properly dispose of plastics remains poor. Globally, one-third of all plastic produced becomes plastic waste, which makes its way into our environment.

During the debate on this bill in the other place, and indeed here in this chamber, we have heard members extol the virtues of this modern material. Of course, no-one is trying to deny the value and usefulness of plastic as a material, nor its pervasiveness in our lives. Indeed, plastic and certainly single-use plastics have greatly improved hygiene standards, but we have created a material that is almost too good: it is cheap, versatile and lasts a long time.

As we have grown increasingly reliant on single-use plastics and in particular their convenience, we have seen the growing negative risks and impacts of our rampant consumption of these products. The WWF summed it up in their 2019 report, entitled Solving Plastic Pollution Through Accountability, where they stated:

Plastic is not inherently bad; it is a man-made invention that has generated significant benefits for society. Unfortunately, the way industries and governments have managed plastic, and the way society has converted it into a disposable and single-use convenience, has transformed this innovation into a planetary environmental disaster.

Since the year 2000, we have used more plastic than all of the years before. While the issue of plastic pollution has only been around for a few decades, 75 per cent of all plastic ever produced has already become waste. The average person uses 53 kilos of plastic a year, leading us to collectively create a total of more than 300 million tonnes of plastic waste.

The production of plastic is increasingly cheap, versatile and reliable, supporting the development of disposable plastic products and practically ensuring that disposability is our global business model. Almost half of all plastic produced becomes waste in less than three years. Plastic packaging clogs up city sewer systems and chokes birds and marine life as it breaks down, looking like bits of food as it makes its way through waterways and into our wildlife, which starve while filling their bellies with deceptive plastic scraps.

As these products break down they leach toxic chemicals and, in the process of breaking down, which takes years and years and years, plastic products are worn into smaller and smaller particles. Microplastics are now making their way into the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe, which will no doubt have serious health implications. The full effects of microplastics on the natural world and society are still unknown. Many knowledge gaps on the impacts of plastic pollution still exist, including the economic impact of land-based pollution and the effects of microplastic ingestion on humans and other animal species.

Carbon dioxide emissions are growing each year from increased production and incineration of waste plastic, and plastic production consumes 4 per cent of total oil and gas demand annually. In 2016, the most recent year for which that data is available, the production of plastic resulted in approximately two billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. We are now seeing research predicting that there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by the year 2025, five years from now; that is horrifying.

About 40 per cent of plastics that we consume today are single use: items such as cutlery, plates, food containers and electronics packaging. While the legislation before us today only tackles a fraction of the various single-use plastic products that become waste at best and serious pollutants at worst, it is not hard to imagine the environmental benefits of seriously reducing our consumption of these products.

In their report on plastics, the WWF estimated that on a global level, if we were to phase out single-use plastics, we would lower plastic waste generation to 188 million metric tonnes, a 57 per cent reduction from the business as usual scenario we have now. We are far from the first jurisdiction seeking to do this. In fact, around 112 countries, states and cities around the world have already imposed bans on various single-use plastic goods, and the list of these restrictions continues to grow.

The East African Legislative Assembly has passed a bill to ban the manufacture, sale, import and use of certain plastic bags across its six member states, with a combined population of approximately 186 million people. In October 2018, the European Union parliament approved a ban on a number of single-use plastic items by the year 2021, along with the requirement to reduce plastic in food packaging by 25 per cent by 2025 and cut plastic content in cigarette filters 80 per cent by the year 2030.

The European Commission is phasing out plastic cotton buds, cutlery, plates, straws and drink stirrers in all of its member states, and single-use plastic bottles with detachable lids are also being banned. I note that we in this chamber, due to the COVID restrictions, currently use plastic bottles each and every day that we sit. Today, I have chosen not to do that, not just because we are debating this bill but certainly this bill is a timely reminder that we can and must do better.

This bill is a welcome and necessary first step itself, particularly with the amendments moved by my colleague the Hon. Mark Parnell, but we cannot just pass this legislation and think that we have done enough. In getting to this legislation, it seems that some products and issues have already been put in the too-hard basket for the time being. Even if we are satisfied with the types of single-use plastics that we are banning in this place today, there is still a lot more that we can and must do.

There need to be incentives for producers to create and use products that are not single-use. The cost, both the environmental cost and the economic cost, is not borne equally by those responsible for plastic pollution. While plastic is cheap to produce, UN estimates tell us that ocean plastic pollution alone costs US$8 billion each year as it impacts fisheries, tourism and maritime operators. Falling production costs have resulted in the accelerated production of virgin plastics and a continued low uptake of recycled materials. Plastic can be more expensive to recycle than it is worth because the true cost of production is not reflected in its price. Manufacturers need to be responsible for the cost of cleaning up the products that they design for us to throw away.

While we need to have better recycling practices and greater uptake in the use of recycled materials, it is not a silver bullet and it does come with limitations. If we continue to deal with and use plastics in the same way, many factors will make it hard to recycle plastic, from its physical characteristics to insufficient market demand for many types of recycled plastics. Then there are issues of contamination and products made of different types of materials that are difficult to separate. Takeaway coffee cups are the perfect example of this, as my honourable colleague, Mark Parnell, is fond of reminding me.

In particular, in that case, if they are recycled, they can only at most be recycled about 10 times before their fibres become too short to be reprocessed. Plastic converters and manufacturers of products made out of virgin plastic have limited responsibility for the downstream impacts of their actions, causing a prevalence of single-use plastic business models. Plastic products often have a complex blend of additional materials that reduce the cost of production. However, this also reduces the recycling potential of these mixed material products by introducing impurities and contaminants and increasing the sorting and cleaning costs.

We also see manufacturers who fail to design resource-efficient products that enable effective end-of-life plastic waste management. Due to choices made in the design and manufacturing processes, those creating the products experience significant benefits from a cheaper product but subsequently increase the cost of plastic waste management for those downstream in the product's life cycle. As the WWF states in that same report, 'Measures should be put in place to ensure the global price of plastic reflects its full life cycle cost to nature and society.'

This is not a far-fetched idea. I think it is the logical step from here. This is already happening in Europe, where there are some places where if companies do not design or enable products to be re-used or recycled they are penalised. A European Commission statement has outlined a shift in responsibility from consumers and onto producers for the entire lifespan of their products, from their production right through to the disposal.

As that quote states, producers will help cover the cost of waste management and clean-up as well as awareness-raising measures for food containers, packets and wrappers, drinks containers and cups, tobacco products with filters, wet wipes, balloons and lightweight plastic bags. The industry will also be given incentives to develop less polluting alternatives for these products. We need to look at the life cycle of products and move towards closed-loop systems. Otherwise, the future of our waste is looking grim. If we do not change our consumption, our plastic consumption is predicted to double by 2030, with dire environmental consequences.

The Greens welcome this bill. We look forward to its speedy passage, hopefully with the Greens' amendment of my honourable colleague included, but we cannot wash our hands of this issue once that is done. We need to move towards better accountability for those responsible for the negative consequences of the products that they produce.

The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS (18:04): I rise today to support the proposed bill, in relation to single-use plastic products, with amendments. The legislation aims to prohibit single-use plastic drinking straws, cutlery and drink stirrers in relation to sale, supply and distribution. This bill is one of many, being part of a staged approach, to eliminating single-use plastics. Twelve months later we will look at banning polystyrene cups, bowls, plates and clam-shell containers.

Incorporated in the bill is a six-month transition period, enabling businesses to explore and institute alternate products, replacing single-use plastics for sale, supply and distribution. In addition, the amendments put forward by the Hon. Mark Parnell include provisions for reporting and review some three years after the commencement of the act, as occurred when legislation was introduced banning plastic bags some years ago.

The intention of the bill is to focus upon recycling and waste resource management that diverts waste away from landfill and focuses on the development of green industries. The result of these initiatives will be reduced waste and pollution in our oceans, rivers, beaches and parks, which in turn will reduce the detrimental effects on our marine wildlife.

For many years South Australia has led the campaign on waste reduction, environmental protection and conservation. This began in the 1970s, with a littering campaign and the institution of signs, as well as penalties for littering, moving from a focus on personal responsibility to developing a scheme for recycling with the container deposit legislation in the 1980s, and more recently a ban on single-use plastic bag legislation, prevalent in the supermarket industry, which focused on waste avoidance.

I am proud to say that these initiatives were all introduced by state Labor governments and supported by the Greens through the years. Single-use plastics require attention and action. As the evidence indicates, they are playing their role in accelerating climate change by contributing to greenhouse emissions from the production process through to the way these products are managed as a waste product. Single-use plastics are, in essence, throwaway products, on which communities have become dependent because they are cheap and convenient. It has meant that, as a by-product, we are creating waste at an alarming rate.

The current pandemic highlights the instances where single-use plastics are essential, especially in the area of health. Without single-use surgical masks, gloves and gowns our healthcare workers would be placed at greater risk. Although several studies have released promising results on reducing the waste of hospital materials, there is little evidence to suggest that another product can be used in place of single-use plastics at this point in time.

According to the experts, we produce 300 million tonnes of plastic each year worldwide, half of which is for single-use items. There is no doubt that recycling, rather than throwing away plastic products, would play an important role in reducing the carbon footprint of plastic products. Alarmingly, 91 per cent of all plastic is not recycled. Instead, single-use plastics in particular find their way into landfill or polluting the environment. Plastic product pollution does not decompose; rather, it simply breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces known as microplastics, and end up in the water to be eaten by wildlife and ingested by humans.

Single-use plastic products are visible on our streets and in our parks, but also in our rivers and in the ocean. There is a direct correlation between plastic litter on our streets, which is washed away by rain and ends up in our storm drains, into rivers and streams, causing further pollution. Our marine animals bear the brunt of this influx of litter and garbage polluting their environment. Whales, sea birds, turtles and fish have all been found with stomachs full of plastic rubbish.

Scientists estimate that there will be more plastic in our oceans by weight in comparison to fish by the year 2050. It is for these reasons that we must address the pollution and the detrimental environmental effects of single-use plastics. It will at least go some way to preventing millions of tonnes of plastic from entering our waste stream each year and represents a first step in working towards a cleaner and safer environment for both humans and animals that share the land, waterways and oceans of our planet.

The Hon. C. BONAROS (18:09): I rise to speak in support of the government's Single-use and Other Plastic Products (Waste Avoidance) Bill 2020. As a South Australian, I am very pleased with the success of our container deposit scheme, introduced by the visionary Dunstan Labor government in 1977. Can I say for the record that my son is also a great fan of that scheme because it means that every time we go to the depot he gets a little extra pocket money for his toys.

The PRESIDENT: You have outsourced pocket money.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: I have. We always try to guess how much we are going to get prior to the visit, and I am always way off, but that is another story. For 35 years we were the only state to have a container deposit scheme. I am sure that, like me, you have often marvelled at how many plastic bottles and cans live on the roadside verges once you cross the border into Victoria because the difference is quite remarkable. That jurisdiction has been very slow off the mark, only recently announcing that they, too, will be introducing a container deposit legislation scheme.

We were also one of the first states to ban the use of plastic shopping bags. For the record, I think it is worth noting that a plastic bag has a working life of approximately 15 minutes on average. We had all become so accustomed to using them up until they were banned here. I think there is something to be said about the replacement of those bags with the 15¢ plastic reusable bag and the 20¢ paper bags in terms of whether one problem has really substituted itself for another and provided some forms of extra revenue.

Studies have shown that a paper bag needs to be used three times to counter the negative impacts it has on the environment, so it would be interesting to see a scientific evaluation of that ban and, specifically, the replacement of those plastic bags with reusable bags and paper bags. Do we actually re-use or recycle the reusable plastic and paper bags or do they also end up in landfill and the marine environment?

It is nevertheless encouraging to see more cutting-edge legislation introduced to reduce plastic waste in South Australia even further. This will no doubt have a significant impact not just on our state but nationally and globally. Although studies have found all single-use items, including those made of bamboo, wood, cardboard and paper, are harmful to the environment, dealing with single-use plastics, polystyrene foam and oxo-degradable plastics is an excellent first step.

I think it is worth highlighting some facts here. Packaging is the largest end-use market segment, accounting for over 40 per cent of total plastic usage. Over the last 10 years we have produced more plastics than during the whole of the last century. Overall, better developed countries produce more plastic but are also the ones with the infrastructure in place to recycle best. It is then up to the population to recycle effectively; however, globally, only 14 per cent of all plastics worldwide is properly recycled. The other 86 per cent ends up in landfill.

The EU, Australia and some parts of Africa, specifically Rwanda and South Africa, have implemented effective bans on plastic bags. Banning these bags has only ever been proven to be effective when there is a cheap alternative freely available to consumers, particularly in poorer nations. The EU is set to eliminate all single-use plastics across Europe by 2021. Whether that is going to change as a result of COVID remains to be seen.

In terms of industries, packaging is the dominant sector in the use of plastics, globally accounting for 42 per cent or 146 million tonnes. This figure is followed by plastics used in construction, with 65 million tonnes. Since packaging is responsible for almost half of global plastic waste, it is worth noting also the breakdown: we have 141 million tonnes in packaging, 42 million tonnes in textiles, 38 million tonnes in other sectors, 37 million tonnes in consumer and institutional products, 17 million tonnes in transportation, 13 million tonnes in electricals, 13 million tonnes in building and construction and one million tonnes in industrial machinery. They are staggering figures.

While plastic bags are the most popular, single-use plastics are quickly becoming the next target. Just in terms of Australian stats, in 2017-18 a total of 3.4 million tonnes of plastic were consumed in Australia and a total of 320,000 tonnes of plastic were recycled, which is an increase of 10 per cent from the previous year. The national plastics recycling rate was just 9.4 per cent. Of the 320,000 tonnes of plastic collected for reprocessing, 145,700 tonnes were exported for reprocessing.

COVID has increased our use of single-use items made of plastic and other materials. I reflect on the fact that I went for a coffee the other day with someone. Between two people we were given two cups of coffee in paper cups, two cups of water in paper cups, two sets of cutlery wrapped in plastic, when we did not need two sets of full cutlery, and two plates, which were barely dirtied by the food that was put on them. You cannot help but reflect on the waste when you are sitting there and you see this pile of cardboard and plastic that has been placed in front of you as a result of the measures that have been put in place as a result of COVID.

I reflect on the multiplier effect in terms of the number of patrons who would have walked through the doors of that same shop during that day and multiply that by the number of shops across Adelaide, and then all our jurisdictions, and it is a mind-blowing amount of takeaway containers, plastics and whatnot that we are using.

Many times, previously single wrapped or not wrapped at all are now double wrapped and reusable cups are now not permitted to be refilled. Of course, there will be some medical and health reasons why very limited use of these items will need to continue. We accept that. I just make the point for the record that now more than ever I think we are all becoming aware of our over-reliance on these products.

At least we can deal with the single-use plastics to begin with because it is these that have the greatest direct environmental impact and present particular threats to marine life. I am pleased to see that the list of prohibited plastic products in the bill extends not only to plastic straws, cutlery and stirrers but also to the polystyrene cups, bowls, plates and containers. I note that further items can be added to the list by regulation.

I want to highlight the contribution of the Hon. Mark Parnell, who had a very similar bill to this introduced some two years ago. I think it is only appropriate and fitting that we acknowledge the Hon. Mark Parnell's work in this area. When he introduced this bill the initiatives had begun to gain traction overseas and were based largely on the EU initiatives, which did go a lot further than is being proposed even today. Whilst the bill lists what the honourable member refers to as 'the low-hanging fruit', the EU list of products is a lot more exhaustive, and for good reason.

If we look at some of our EU countries—and I think it is worth looking at them—Italy consumes about 2.1 million tonnes of plastic each year; Spain, about 3.84 million; and Greece uses one million coffee cups a day—per day. They are a coffee culture. These are some of the places that will be taking the drastic measures that have been outlined by the Hon. Mark Parnell and the Hon. Tammy Franks. France, Germany and Spain, I think, are amongst some of the worst offenders, despite Greece using one million cups per day.

As I said, I note that further items can be added to the list by regulation. I look forward to the expansion of this list to include a lot of the unnecessary packaging that we find in a lot of our fresh food, primarily in supermarkets. I do not know if it annoys anyone as much as it annoys me, but I am sure it annoys all of us to see bananas wrapped in plastic on a styrofoam tray. It really beggars belief.

I look forward to including the huge number of single-use coffee cups and drink containers, cotton bud sticks, flossing sticks, sticks attached to balloons and so many other items that we really can live without. Oxo-degradable plastic will now also be banned and cannot be manufactured, which is a great step.

It is good news that local manufacturers who may be impacted by this legislation have indicated that they support it, and many of our leading local manufacturers—like Detmold, for example—have demonstrated their ability to adapt and offer a diverse range of product lines so that they are not solely reliant on selling products that will be prohibited by this legislation.

As I said, globally over 300 million tonnes of plastic is produced each year; disturbingly, this trend is increasing not decreasing. Those of us who have travelled to Bali or the Solomon Islands or Fiji would, I am sure, be aware of the huge quantities of plastics, rubber and wooden waste that washes up on those beaches. The Mediterranean tourism season also sees a huge influx of wasteful products being used in those countries, and of course they all end up in our oceans.

Unfortunately, scientists have discovered that plastic bags in the marine environment take on some of the characteristics of food, thus making them an attractive but fatal source of food for marine life, and we have heard other members speak about the same thing. If you have seen the results of containers falling off ships and their contents washing ashore along the east coast you would have observed that a great many of these items were single-use plastics.

Clearly, there is a need for a wide range of global solutions to be implemented by all jurisdictions to deal with plastic waste, to decrease its manufacture and use and prevent it from entering landfill and marine environments. Of course part of the solution is preventing the discharge of plastics into the ocean, but the most proactive solution is to do as this bill intends at the beginning of the plastic lifecycle; that is, to ban certain single-use plastic items and to continue to ban more plastic items over time.

I am just as guilty as the next person in terms of my over-reliance on plastics. I think at one point or another we have all become over-reliant on plastics because they are extremely convenient, but the reality is that that convenience has, for a long time, prevailed over environmental benefits. However, I think it is fair to say that some of us were ahead of our time.

We have now reached a tipping point, and it is critical that these measures take full advantage of that tipping point. To that end, I note there are a number of amendments filed aimed at strengthening this bill which we will consider favourably. In the interim I commend the government for introducing this bill to ban single-use plastics and other materials, and confirm our support for it. More importantly, I commend the ongoing work of the Hon. Mark Parnell for getting us here in the first place. With those words, I indicate our support for the bill.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (18:23): I would like to thank honourable members for their second reading contributions, particularly the Hon. Kyam Maher, the Hon. Tammy Franks, the Hon. Irene Pnevmatikos and the Hon. Connie Bonaros. This bill further demonstrates our state's leadership in waste management and recycling, but I acknowledge that others have gone before.

Indeed, I do not think anyone has mentioned the Hon. Gail Gago and her plastic bag ban, which some of us at the time were sceptical about. When I was in my late 20s and early 30s and still house sitting with other people I used to embarrass my housemates by taking the calico bags in preference to those shopping bags, so there are certainly a number of us who have had concerns about plastics for a long time.

The government is aware that other states and territories are watching the progress of this legislation closely, with the intention of potentially following our lead. The government first raised the issue of addressing single-use plastic products with the community in early 2019 through the 'Turning the tide on single-use plastic products' discussion paper. The response is clear that South Australians want the government to take action on single-use plastic products.

A number of honourable members spoke very passionately about their concerns with these ongoing products and their impact on the environment. In response, the Minister for Environment and Water committed to developing this legislation, and I am pleased to support its progress through the house.

The government notes that there are members of this chamber as well as members of the community who want the bill to go further and address other types of single-use plastic products. We need to be mindful of impacts to organisations and businesses, particularly as they transition back into their new operating environments as coronavirus social distancing restrictions are eased.

The government considers that businesses will be able to transition to alternative products to those listed in the bill relatively easily. The delayed commencement of the prohibition on the expanded polystyrene food service items and oxo-degradable plastic products will also support the transition.

The legislation contains a framework to add other products to the list of prohibited plastic products via regulations, subject to the consultation process outlined in clause 6(2) of the bill. This will allow single-use and other plastic products to be considered for prohibition in consultation with key stakeholders and the community, prior to being added through the subordinate legislation process rather than via a new act of parliament.

As members are aware, parliamentary scrutiny of regulations is applied through the Legislative Review Committee, as well as motions of disallowance. I would like to reiterate the importance of the exemption that will allow for the continued sale, supply and distribution of single-use plastic drinking straws for people who require them due to disability or medical equipment.

The government is committed to inclusiveness and will be implementing a broad exemption via regulations to allow continued access to single-use plastic drinking straws on request without people having to provide any proof of their requirement. The government will be undertaking communications activities in the lead-up to and during implementation of the legislation to help businesses transition to alternative products.

The communications will also reiterate to businesses that it will not be an offence under the legislation to supply single-use plastic drinking straws to people who request them due to disability or medical requirement. Businesses will also be assisted in communicating this information to their customers.

The Single-Use Plastics Stakeholder Taskforce established by the government to assist and inform the development of this legislation, which comprises business, industry, retail, disability, local government and environmental group representatives, is also helping to inform these communications activities. I note the opposition and the Greens have placed some amendments on file, and I look forward to discussing the amendments further in committee. I understand the opposition has some particular questions that we will endeavour to provide answers to before the committee stage of the debate.

Bill read a second time.

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