E&OE….
Topics: National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme reform, Great Barrier Reef, housing affordability, marriage equality.
STEVEN CIOBO:
Well thanks very much for coming out this arvo. I’m very pleased to welcome the Federal Minister for the Environment, Greg Hunt, here. We’re here, together with many representatives and families and clients of the Endeavour Foundation and we’ve spent this afternoon having a look at the brilliant work that they do in terms of e-waste and recycling of important materials. It really is a great local business.
It’s great to see that we’ve got such outstanding examples of the integration of people with intellectual disability together with viable businesses, but also making an important environmental contribution. So I was absolutely delighted that the Federal Environment Minister, Greg Hunt, was able to come along and have a look today. He has an announcement to make as well, so with that I’ll hand it over to you, Greg.
GREG HUNT:
Ok. Look, thanks very much to Steve who is really passionate about what they do here at Endeavour. To Dave, this is your life and your work and I appreciate it enormously. I want to speak briefly about three things – Endeavour, environment and employment. And Endeavour here is where hope meets opportunity. It’s the two things together.
This organisation, this facility, it is about giving young people, people with disability, an opportunity that they might never have and you only need to listen to the parents, people such as Bernie and friends and family that are on the committee, that have loved ones here, brothers and sisters, sons or daughters and there’s such enthusiasm. But the real highlight is meeting people.
Meeting people such as Tessa who’s been here for 35 years and she loves her work. For anybody to love their work after 35 years in a job is an amazing achievement and here’s Tessa who is just proud of what she does. She loves coming to work every day and Dave couldn’t have a better testimonial than somebody who’s been here for that long, who can’t wait to be here again tomorrow, and the next day and the next day. I asked John what he thought of his work and do you like your work and he said, ‘hell yeah! I love ripping things apart!’
And so it’s just about people doing things with their hands, creating a recycling process which otherwise wouldn’t occur and having meaningful work and doing good things by the environment. So Endeavour does just a wonderful job in that respect. So in terms of the environment, much of the work here is supported through the National TV and Computer Recycling Scheme. In the past it has produced about 21,000 tonnes a year of waste to recycling. Now that’s up to just over 40,000 tonnes a year, so it’s effectively doubled since the scheme has been underway. But there have been some challenges, that’s the honest answer.
Firms such as Endeavour in other parts of the country were suffering from lumpy work and what they said they wanted was a review, pardon me, what they wanted was a review which would allow us to give them secure work, secure payments and a secure flow of recycling material. And so what we’ve done is hold this review, talk with all of the participants, talk with young people, talk with the computer and television companies and recyclers and I am delighted to announce three things today.
Firstly, we will increase from the 1st of July the recycling rate from 37 to 50% for computers and TV’s. That will go up again to 58% from the 1st of July 2016. All up, over the next four years, that will mean an increase of 32,000 tonnes of material to be recycled. So that’s a fantastic environmental outcome. It means that heavy metals, that plastics, that materials that would otherwise be in the environment, won’t be there. They’ll be recycled. It’s the equivalent over the next four years of about 750,000 cathode ray tubes which will be recycled and won’t be dumped. So that’s a tremendous environmental outcome.
The second thing we’re doing is ensuring that all of the recyclers around the country apply the new Australian standard on e-waste recycling. That’s just about making sure that the standards and the quality are world-class, already building on a great system and the third is to make sure that the product weightings reflect the decrease and decline in actual weight of goods. That will save about $70 million through the process over the coming four years. So it’s a very good step going forwards.
Now this then brings me to what it means for employment and in human terms. At the end of the day it’s about one human outcome and that is it gives more security to firms such as Endeavour. It means that people with disabilities can look forward to long and continued employment and I think that’s a really great outcome. So I want to thank everybody who’s been involved. It’s unusual, but I particularly want to thank one of my staff members, Alex Caroly, who has worked tirelessly, maybe put hundreds of hours into this, but there are many people from around the country who have been involved.
At the end of the day, it’s about firms such as Endeavour providing employment for people with disabilities with a real sense of hope and a real sense of opportunity and reducing waste in the environment and today’s a pretty significant day. So I’d be delighted to take any questions on that and afterwards on anything else.
JOURNALIST:
How will you get the rate from 37 per cent up to 50 odd per cent? Is that by speaking to local government and getting them to pick this stuff off the tip or off the streets?
GREG HUNT:
No, no we will actually regulate to ensure that is a standard that has to be met. So that’s being done with the agreement of local governments and I should acknowledge Gold Coast, who’s here today and they’ve been a fantastic participant and a fantastic assistant in this process. But around the country this is what councils wanted, it is what states wanted, there was a gap and so everybody’s agreed that this is one example of low touch, soft impact regulation for the better.
JOURNALIST:
So half of televisions thrown out will now be effectively recycled?
GREG HUNT:
Correct and that will increase the year after to 58% and we head towards a national target of 80%. So it’s bringing forward what was the trajectory, but at the end of the day, we can do more, earlier.
JOURNALIST:
Can we talk about the Reef?
GREG HUNT:
Yeah sure, of course.
JOURNALIST:
The Queensland Government – an Auditor-General’s report has found the Queensland Government is not doing enough to ensure clean water or high quality water is being poured onto the Reef. Two weeks ago UNESCO announced that they wouldn’t be declaring the area a problem area or a (inaudible). Do you think UNESCO’s been misled given the scope for…
GREG HUNT:
No clearly not. Look I really welcome this report. I think it’s a very important report. I understand it’s in the ordinary course of events but it’s significant in that it identifies many good things that are being done. It also says that there needs to be more emphasis on actual monitoring and just today, in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Ministerial Council, we decided and we determined, that there should be, there would be and there will be more monitoring. So I think they’re good recommendations which we’ve already adopted.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think we’re being misled as a people?
GREG HUNT:
No, actually I’ve only seen the report for the first time early this afternoon and what it says is very clear, there’s significant progress, there are areas where they want to move from modelling to monitoring and I agree with that. And I think that what occurred under previous governments was good, but what’s occurring under us and what’s occurring going forwards is better and so I agree.
JOURNALIST:
Greenpeace says you are misleading Australians about improving water quality targets. How can you placate them that you’re not?
GREG HUNT:
I don’t think anybody can placate them. What I would say is this – that this was a Queensland report into a Queensland programme run by the Queensland government, but at the end of the day I did see something that was pointed out to me and that was the response from the Auditor to Minister Miles saying that if what Queensland is proposing is implemented, it will be an absolutely top-notch programme.
So the key thing here is it acknowledges very significant progress, very significant steps. It does say though that they want to go from modelling to monitoring and I couldn’t agree more with that.
JOURNALIST:
Is today’s report proof that the Reef 2050 Plan is not enough to save the Reef?
GREG HUNT:
No, that isn’t actually, as I understand it, what the report says. The report is about Queensland’s monitoring of Queensland’s own programme. It’s not a report into the Federal Government or Federal processes, but it’s, I think, a valuable report which heads us in exactly the direction we’d already determined of going towards more monitoring and just today, as a formal decision of the Great Barrier Reef Ministerial Council, we determined that we will put in place additional monitoring of what’s occurring.
By the way, we are on track to make significant and profound improvements in Reef water quality precisely as a result of the changes to sediment, nitrogen and nutrient which are going on now and which will increase in pace over the coming years.
JOURNALIST:
On the issue of housing affordability, given the Treasurer’s comments, what would your advice be to prospective first homebuyers?
GREG HUNT:
Look, I think the point here is that the Treasurer is saying that it’s always a challenge to get in but the most important thing that anybody can have is the security of income. At the same time, States have to be providing more land wherever possible because the more land that’s available for new starts, the more young people have the opportunity to get into the market. I don’t know Steve, whether, given your history, you wanted to add something here?
STEVEN CIOBO:
I’ve already made some comments.
GREG HUNT:
There you go. Steve has already spoken.
JOURNALIST:
Just on the issue of marriage equality – the issue’s dividing the Nationals now. As a supporter yourself, what would you say to your colleagues about how to conduct the debate?
GREG HUNT:
Look, I think this is something for the Party Room and it should be dealt with that way and that’s certainly the way I propose to approach it.
JOURNALIST:
Could you do it in the spring sitting then?
GREG HUNT:
I won’t pre-empt the Party Room. I think that’s the best thing, to be respectful of that. Alright, thank you very much.
(ENDS)