THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
10 NEWS FIRST WITH NARELDA JACOBS
WEDNESDAY, 21 FEBRUARY 2024
SUBJECTS: FAST FASHION; NATIVE FOREST LOGGING; WOMEN IN TOP JOBS; ELECTION TIMING; TAYLOR SWIFT.
NARELDA JACOBS: The fast fashion industry has been put on notice with Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek warning it’s on her watch list. She says if major retailers don’t voluntarily sign up to reduce their climate impact, they’ll be forced to comply through government regulation. And to discuss this and the rest of the day’s big political stories, Minister Plibersek joins us now. Thanks for joining us.
TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Great to be with you.
JACOBS: In a speech you made this morning to the fashion industry you talked about how fast fashion means we might only wear something once before we donate it, but because it’s such low quality the charity then has to pay to dump it in landfill. How much of this waste are we producing, and what’s the environmental impact?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, it’s a huge environmental impact. We produce about a quarter of a million tonnes of waste that’s going into landfill every year, so items of clothing and fabric and so on. And that has a huge environmental impact. In fact, the fashion industry is responsible for about 10 per cent of global carbon emissions, so that’s more than international flights and the maritime industry put together.
We can all have a role in reducing this waste. Australians are buying on average about 56 items of clothing every year, so even if you reduce that a little bit or the thing that you’ve bought, wear it a few more times, make sure you get more use out of each item of clothing that you’ve got.
JACOBS: This is a voluntary thing for the industry. What are the consequences if they don’t volunteer?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, the fashion industry have set up a body called Seamless, which is a product stewardship council for the fashion industry. And what they’ll do is actually put some money into better design, so designing fabrics that you can get more wears out of, that are more environmentally sustainable, designing recycling facilities, making sure we better sort the clothes that we’re donating to be recycled so that they can be recycled appropriately.
I really want the fashion industry to take the lead on this. The best thing is if the big brands that have already signed up are joined by other brands across the fashion industry and they can, you know, really reduce the impact on the planet of fast fashion.
What I’ve said is if the fashion industry don’t step up, then I’ll regulate, and that’s what we’re doing for example with packaging. With packaging I’m working with states and territories to reduce the use of single-use plastics, to reduce the use of virgin plastic, to change the design of a lot of packaging so that it has less impact on the planet.
JACOBS: You mentioned that fashion produces 10 per cent of global carbon emissions. But one of the biggest carbon sequesters are trees.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yes.
JACOBS: And part of that circular economy I guess is making sure that carbon emissions are captured, which leads me to logging. Bob Brown has been arrested in Tasmania for trying to save World Heritage value trees. Native forest logging still happens in Tasmania, New South Wales and Queensland, and conservationists say the future of native forests is in your hands. They don’t accept that it’s a state-based issue, state-only issue. Can federal environment laws protect native forests?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yes, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re reforming our environmental laws as we speak. In fact, there’s consultations on this week on the next phase of our environmental law reforms. We’ve done phase 1 already, we’ve expanded protections for water from mining, coal and gas mining. We did that at the end of last year. We’re doing the second phase of environmental law reform at the moment. And we’ve said very clearly that our updated environmental laws will apply to regional forestry agreements.
At the moment we get about 90 per cent of our timber needs from plantations. The Federal Government’s invested about $300 million to expand plantations and to update our forestry industry. But, of course our native forests are really important also for carbon sequestration, as you say, but, you know, as Environment Minister I really see their value as the home of our threatened native plants and animals.
JACOBS: When can we expect to see those bans put in place then?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, we’re not talking about banning native forest logging altogether; we’re talking about making sure that we are careful and thoughtful about the timber industry that we have in Australia. We’re always going to need timber products in Australia to build homes, to build beautiful furniture. We’re always going to need timber. What we need to do is make sure that we’re managing that resource in the way that respects the value of the resource – as timber, as carbon sequestration and as a home for our natural environment.
JACOBS: All right, Minister, moving on – we saw two women stepping down from their top jobs yesterday – Katarina Carroll as Queensland Police Commissioner and Virgin Australia boss Jayne Hrdlicka. Hrdlicka said it was four years of heavy lifting. And I’m sure it wasn’t easy either for Katarina Carroll in her job. They were both the first women in those positions. Does that make it more challenging?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, I think it’s always more challenging when you’re the first. And I remember Julia Gillard has the first female Prime Minister – you know, that brought with it its own set of challenges that were related to gender. I think being the first when you’re a trailblazer, there’s a lot of scrutiny. But the one thing that all of those women can take comfort from I think is that they’ve made it easier for the next one and the next one.
JACOBS: Is it easier for female politicians?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Look, the thing that’s made it really a lot easier than it was when I first started is that the Labor Party now in the Federal Parliament is more than half female. We’re at about 52 per cent. That has changed so much during my time in parliament, and I think it has made us a better, more effective, more representative body.
JACOBS: Women often come into the top when things aren’t so great and there’s a lot of troubleshooting that has to –
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, you’ve noticed that, have you?
JACOBS: And a crisis.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: It’s turned to custard – here, you have it.
JACOBS: Did the Prime Minister use the words, “As we enter an election year” in a message to the team? Could we be looking at an election year this year?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, the election has to be held by May 2025. That’s the longest we can go. So, of course, you know, May 2025 is not that far away.
JACOBS: So do you think he was talking about 12 months?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, I think between now and 2025 – May 2025. Yeah, it’s not that far off.
JACOBS: So 2024 election?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Look, the Prime Minister said that he likes the parliament to go for a full term. It is only three years at the federal level, and three years is, like, the blink of an eye. It goes very quickly when you’re trying to do big things.
JACOBS: Are you going to Taylor Swift?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I wish I was going to Taylor Swift. I hung – well, I didn’t hang on the line; I had the iPad going, the phone going, but I missed out. And do you know what’s worse? My husband got offered free tickets through his work, and he said no because he thought it would be a bad look. Can you imagine how unhappy I was when I heard that? Very upset.
JACOBS: I can imagine. Well, I hope someone’s going in your place that’s a Swiftie.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah. Yeah, I guess.
JACOBS: Thank you very much, Minister Plibersek. We really appreciate you talking to us today.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Great to be with you.
END
