Waste and recycling management
Tim READ (Brunswick) (14:25): My question is for the Minister for Climate Action. Burning rubbish for energy produces toxic ash and smoke and undermines Victoria’s recycling efforts, but in December the government doubled the waste-to-energy cap to 2 million tonnes a year, which would give us between 1 and 3 tonnes of additional greenhouse gas emissions every year. We do not need yet another fire or flood to tell us that this is precisely not the kind of climate action we need. Why is the government doubling the planned emissions of its proposed waste-to-energy incinerators when what Victoria really needs is for emissions to go down?
Lily D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park – Minister for Climate Action, Minister for Energy and Resources, Minister for the State Electricity Commission) (14:25): I thank the member for Brunswick for his question. The fact is this: you argue that somehow emissions are going up; they are not. The emissions in fact in Victoria are going down, and our emissions are reducing at amongst the fastest rates in the country because of the actions that we have taken to reduce our emissions profile right across our economy. When it comes to waste and landfill and technologies that can assist with resource recovery and recycling, certainly my very good friend the Minister for Environment is doing a sterling job in the recycling system that Victoria has, which we are very, very proud of – the best in the country.
Can I say that I absolutely dispute the assertion that the member for Brunswick makes that the policy changes that were made towards the end of last year will result in increased emissions. They will not. I think they need to have a look at the facts, because the facts sometimes are inconvenient to those opposite, the Greens. The facts are these: we have ambitious emissions reduction targets in our state. Every target that we have set we have met, and we will continue to do the hard work, the diligent work, based on evidence and facts, to continue to reduce our emissions while growing our economy. When we grow our economy and when we reduce our emissions we are actually providing greater job opportunities for every Victorian across the state. We are doing this in a way also that is reducing people’s costs, their energy bills, and we are doing it in a way that is enduring.
Others can make commentary, others can have their wish lists, but when it comes to the facts and the evidence, the work that we have got underway in this state is the envy of the rest of the country, and we will continue to demonstrate our effort by continuing the work that we have done and growing the activities that will lead to us achieving our emissions reduction targets.
Tim READ (Brunswick) (14:28): The minister appears to be confusing the decline in the state’s emissions with the emissions from these projects, most of which have not started. They are not producing emissions, because they have not started. The minister I understand has signed a petition opposing at least one of these projects. Unless I have misheard, the minister may have even said that they will not produce emissions at all. But it is impossible to burn 2 million tonnes of rubbish without producing over a million tonnes of emissions. So my question for the minister is: what is the government doing to reduce or eliminate emissions from this project?
Lily D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park – Minister for Climate Action, Minister for Energy and Resources, Minister for the State Electricity Commission) (14:29): I think the member for Brunswick would do well to explain which emissions he is talking about, because the question to the Minister for Climate Action I take it is about carbon emissions, and I have been very clear that handling the waste system in a way that recycles and reuses all of the materials you can, short of sending them to landfill –
Ellen Sandell: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, it is very clear that this question is about the carbon emissions from a specific project, and I assume that that is something that is of interest to the climate action minister, who is responsible for carbon emissions.
The SPEAKER: The minister was being relevant to the question.
Lily D’AMBROSIO: We are talking about a system-wide approach to emissions reduction. If you want to pick on one item, go ahead obviously if you get your jollies on that. But what I get my jollies off on, Speaker, every single day is working hard to have the actions in place so that when you look at a systems-wide approach – once you have reused and reduced your waste, kept it out of landfill through an industrial process – and when you consider the whole of the emissions profile of that, you will see a reduction in carbon emissions, not an increase. Cherrypicking your data does not work.