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Legislative Assembly
 
DANGEROUS GOODS AMENDMENT (PENALTY REFORM) BILL 2019

11 September 2019
Second reading
Frank McGuire  (ALP)

 


Mr McGUIRE (Broadmeadows) (17:28:52): We should make it clear from the outset that this bill is part of a raft of reforms that the Victorian government is implementing. The action is being taken. The strategy is being delivered. If you have a look it, it is an issue that is of national significance. This bill sends the strongest message to rogue operators. It is clear-cut. It creates a new offence with a jail sentence of up to 10 years for those who: … recklessly engage in the manufacture, storage, transport, transfer, sale or use of dangerous goods that places, or may place, a person in danger of death. Ten years jail. Body corporates that are found guilty of this offence will face fines of more than $6.4 million. And then there is a whole range of other significant reforms and penalties. So that is at a level to send this message clearly to the rogue operators and to the criminal element that have now been detected. And have a look at what else is going on with the government. We have got this issue being raised at the highest level—at COAG. So the national body, on behalf of all of our governments, is actually looking at what we need to do to address this. We have had the Prime Minister as well saying that Australia will no longer export its waste. The Premier has taken a lead in these initiatives also. How did this really come about? We saw a domino effect after the Chinese government stopped importing our waste. This has happened in a whole series of different ways. I speak as a member whose electorate has been affected by this. We had the fires in waste stockpiles in Coolaroo and Campbellfield. Recalling the Coolaroo fire two years ago, it burnt for almost two weeks and sent toxic smoke plumes right across Melbourne as far as St Kilda. This is a situation that we are now in because China has forced this to the crisis point and the chain reaction has followed. Let us have a look at what has been done on this issue of national significance. We have had the Andrews Labor government take a strong stand to address these matters through a whole range of cabinet ministers in the Parliament and, as I said, recently at the COAG meeting. This has produced a coordinated approach and a united strategy for Australia to work towards banning recyclable waste being exported overseas. The ban, while not immediate, will include all levels of government giving their environment ministers the role of defining a time frame for plastics, paper, metals and glass to be taken out of the broader waste system. This is a national initiative and an important collaboration. I am sure that all Australians, particularly my constituents, will be delighted to see that we have a united approach because of the significance of this issue. I also want to look at what happened here. The Premier immediately took decisive action, as did the Deputy Premier and the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, who is at the table. I can tell you that I was just in meetings with her and my local community representative from the City of Hume before making this contribution—the minister has been there every time. We are trying to work through the policy. Cheap shots do not count in this; this is too important. So this is the kind of strategy and this is what this government is doing to try to address this. It will take time and it is not going to be easy; these are complex matters. As I said, we had rogue operators acting outside the law, the China issue occurred, the stockpiling became toxic and then the fires occurred and the plumes went across the city. So this is the way that you have to address these perilous issues. You need the collaboration and not just the cheap shots—they do not get you anywhere. It is about how you actually make this occur, and then what are the series of remedies? I want to also thank the Minister for Workplace Safety and Attorney-General for bringing this in, because I went to the fire at Coolaroo just after it happened and I remember seeing the first responders. They had to go into the factories, and they did not know what was there in the back streets of those suburbs. So I want to commend them for their courage and their bravery. We are also looking at how we use the three tiers of government and the different agencies to actually trace what is being illegally warehoused. That is one part of this initiative. Then we are looking at another remedy in terms of how we separate out the waste right from the kerbside—right from your front door—and also at international initiatives to turn waste into energy and how we can actually analyse that. So that is what the Andrews government is doing—looking at how we avoid landfill. We are now ruling out export. What is the range of technologies for recycling, waste-to-energy, composting and a whole range of other propositions? I note that it was in the media yesterday that there is a company looking to come to the City of Hume that is looking for a planning application there to look at the waste-to-energy proposition. I have been very interested to see what can happen here. Is that a way that we can advance the circular economy, and how do we actually make better use of materials and drive better propositions? Basically there are two business models on the circular economy: those that foster re-use and extend the life of a product through repair, remanufacture, upgrades and retrofits, and those that turn old goods at the end of their service life into as-new resources by recycling the matters they contain and the materials they contain; the other model on the circular economy is further broken down into two distinct processes, one for biological materials and the other for technical materials, with a continuous flow of materials through the cycle. So they are the two ways that this is analysed. In terms of the waste-to-energy proposition, I remember seeing a New York Times article about what happens in Copenhagen. If you look at what they have done there, they have an incinerator and they have actually been importing waste from the UK. Their argument will have to be scientifically proven, but they say that they can actually use modern technology to turn waste into energy, and the steam that is emitted, they argue, is less of a pollutant than the ambient air around Copenhagen. So that is one of many models. The technology is advancing, and I think the government will actually have to look at what are the market mechanisms that can be used here, what are the household initiatives that we can take and how do we make sure that we stop the landfill as best we can. This is an issue that has been worked on thoroughly. It is being approached by the various agencies in a coordinated way, from WorkSafe to Environment Protection Authority Victoria. This is where the government is now in trying to advance this situation that we find ourselves in. I am delighted that there is a national approach. The leadership is there, as are the policy settings, the strategies and the attempts to get market solutions as well as government initiatives. As I said, even to the local media yesterday, it is now coming to the area that I represent. Some of the other penalties have also been significantly increased under this bill, and I think that that is what the government is trying to do with this strategic approach to address the problem and to try and make sure that we can handle all the different issues: get rid of the rogue traders; get a better idea—an audit—of what is actually in these warehouses and in the back streets of our cities; and eventually be able to hopefully turn this waste into energy, which I think would be the best result.