E&OE….
Topics: Plastic bags, Leadership
JOHN STANLEY:
Greg Hunt, good morning.
GREG HUNT:
Good morning guys.
JOHN STANLEY:
Are you the nanny in all of this, are you?
GREG HUNT:
No, actually my job is to help clean up the environment and I think we can do that and we can do it without necessarily having to resort to legislation. What we’re working on is an agreed phase-out in the remaining four States of what you call the non-biodegradable plastic bags and frankly, yesterday Clean Up Australia Day in my own town of Mount Martha, I was out there and many, many, many people were out there and with my little five year old and my wife who were picking up a lot of plastic bags from the edge of the waterway, from some of the parks and we can do better.
JOHN STANLEY:
So it’s pretty simple isn’t it? Why can’t you just introduce some Federal legislation? Bring it back into the – who’s going to oppose it?
GREG HUNT:
This has to be done at the State level, that’s how it works in terms of the Constitution. These local environment laws are the way to do it but you do have a role and the statement was about the ‘bully pulpit’ and my job is to bring the States, to cajole the States, to work with the states but to be frank everybody was very supportive when we had an Environment Ministers meeting last week.
We’ve now got a national approach where we have New South Wales and South Australia working with the Commonwealth to lead the push and I think we can make a difference in terms of hundreds of millions if not billions of bags a year over the coming half decade.
JOHN STANLEY:
Why has it taken so long and why have the States been so reluctant to move on this? Are they being lobbied by the plastic bag manufacturers?
GREG HUNT:
Well, look I can’t speak for the past, I can speak for my watch. And so it’s our time now and our responsibility and some of the large companies have been surprisingly positive. Some of the big retailers I think are realising they have a responsibility. If they’ve blackened their names, if they’ve got bags out there with their names and as you say there are already four States.
The other four States and Territories were between them extremely interested in action. There was no pushback from any of them. They may all do it in slightly different ways but I think on both the plastic bags and then also on these things called microbeads, which have really emerged as an issue over the last two years, we can make a big difference.
These are tiny little plastic beads that might be a millimetre in diameter or even just a few microns. They’re in things such as shampoos, facial exfoliants, they make their way into the waterways, make their way into the food chain for fish and potentially for people and we’ve got a provisional agreement to phase them out in Australia and that is a huge step forward as well.
JOHN STANLEY:
What about bottle recycling? The New South Wales Government is pressing ahead with the container deposit scheme. Do you support that?
GREG HUNT:
So the States have different approaches. What I’ve said is that each State has to make up their own mind. I wouldn’t want to stand in their way.
JOHN STANLEY:
Do you support what New South Wales is doing on that?
GREG HUNT:
I’m completely comfortable with them doing it. My understanding is that Victoria is probably not going to do it. New South Wales certainly appears to be heading that way and they may choose a more light touch approach than some of the other States but I think we’ll get to see which works and which doesn’t over the coming years.
JOHN STANLEY:
Can we go through the motions now, because you know there’s a pretty obvious question we’ve got to ask you this morning? We know exactly which answer you’re going to give. So Garry, fire away…
GARRY LINNELL:
Well we know how toxic the environment has been within Government circles lately, but has the Fairfax-Ipsos poll this morning given the Prime Minister a little bit more time?
GREG HUNT:
Look I do not believe there was anything that was going to happen this week before the weekend, I still don’t believe that there’s anything that should or will happen and I wouldn’t support it if there was a proposal. I think there’s an increasing view that he deserves a fair go.
People may have disagreed with a couple of decisions a month ago and expressed their views but what’s happened now is it’s very clear that a) Australians are generally of the view that the Prime Minister of the day does deserve a fair go. We’re doing immensely important work of trying to wipe the intergenerational theft, which was put in place, that would have left the bill for the kids. Doing things such as cleaning up the environment, reducing electricity prices compared to what they would otherwise have been, making really significant changes.
The second thing that’s happened is that folks have had a good look at Bill Shorten and the ALP and they know that it’s going to mean a massive increase in electricity prices and a massive bill for the next generation and I think there’s a lot of resistance, rightly, for that.
JOHN STANLEY:
Can we just ask you two questions you would normally be asked on FM radio? Star Trek – Leonard Nimoy’s gone. Were you a Star Trek fan?
GREG HUNT:
Look, I did like it as a kid. I wouldn’t have seen a Star Trek movie or episode in…
JOHN STANLEY:
So you weren’t a loyal Trekker?
GREG HUNT:
I was pretty sad, because as a young kid I was always aware of it.
JOHN STANLEY:
Alright. And The Sound of Music – 50th Anniversary – you have seen Sound of Music, haven’t you?
GREG HUNT:
I have. I’m not the world’s biggest fan because I’m tone deaf according to my wife and anybody who’s ever heard me sing. But my wife, and my nine year old daughter absolutely love it.
JOHN STANLEY:
Alright, very good. I’m working with someone who’s never even seen it. Hard to believe isn’t it?
GREG HUNT:
That is a serious social limitation.
JOHN STANLEY:
I agree. Thank you Mr Hunt. Greg Hunt the Federal Environment Minister.
(ENDS)