Page 1922 - Week 07 - Thursday, 13 August 2020
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items often end up in our landfills because they are difficult to recycle or unable to be recycled economically or re-used. Single-use plastics, by definition, are items that are not designed to be reused.
Madam Speaker, Canberrans have had their say and it is clear that they have had enough of single-use plastic. Over the last year the ACT government has consulted with the community on phasing out single-use plastic. We received a huge amount of feedback—3,300 contributions to the consultation process, the highest per capita engagement across Australia for similar legislation.
This bill reflects community concern about plastic waste, which tells us that governments and industry must do more to address the issues and challenges associated with single-use plastic. Our government has listened to our community and reviewed all the policy options available to us to tackle this issue. We will take strong regulatory action to ban certain single-use plastics.
Canberrans expect that the ACT government should regulate to reduce plastic. To inform our approach, we have established the Plastic Reduction Taskforce, comprising key representatives from national and local industry, business, environment and disability advocacy bodies. I want to particularly acknowledge the work of the late Sue Salthouse and her role on this taskforce, representing Women with Disabilities ACT. This is yet another example of her outstanding contribution to public policy here in the ACT, and I am very grateful for her advice.
This bill has also been informed by the ACT government’s involvement in a strong, collaborative cross-jurisdictional network as multiple Australian states and territories work together to phase out single-use plastic.
While this bill was originally due to be introduced around mid-2020, we have been mindful that during the pandemic this legislation imposes additional regulation on the hospitality and events industries when they are either not operating or just trying to survive during this health emergency. However, community and industry remain supportive of our proposals and the ACT government remains determined to progress legislation to ban certain single-use plastic.
We are therefore releasing the public exposure draft of the bill and explanatory statement, marking the start of the implementation of the phase-out. The government, through the release of this exposure bill, is giving businesses time to respond and time to determine which alternatives, if any, are best suited to their needs. We know that there will be a very long recovery, both economically and socially, and we will work collaboratively with our community and business in the implementation of this legislation. I would like to take the opportunity to thank our local businesses who, despite the current environment, have continued to move to sustainable alternatives to single-use plastic.
Madam Speaker, this bill will enact a broad framework to regulate the reduction of single-use plastic. In doing so, this bill replaces and absorbs the Plastic Shopping Bags Ban Act 2010 to streamline and expand the ban to a range of plastic products. Between 2011, when the plastic bag ban act came into effect, and 2018, we reduced
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