THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS
MONDAY, 26 FEBRUARY 2024
SUBJECTS: PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION REPORT INTO MURRAY-DARLING BASIN PLAN; PAPER AND CARDBOARD EXPORT BAN; DUNKLEY BY-ELECTION.
KIERAN GILBERT: The final report of the Productivity Commission's review of the government's Murray-Darling Basin Plan has been released. It affirms support for the government's approach to rescue and ultimately deliver the plan. Joining me live, as I said in the studio, is the Minister for Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek. Thanks for your time. So, someone just tuning in to see the headline, what is it out of this Productivity Commission report, we've all heard about Murray-Darling over many years? Is it now looking brighter, the future for the river system?
TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Well, I think the Productivity Commission report is a very important analysis of why the plan has been off track, and it says that it has been off track over recent years, but it is an endorsement of our Restoring Our Rivers Bill at the end of last year and says that setting aside more time and more money, more options, and adding more accountability to the delivery of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is important. So, I would say it's a pretty strong endorsement of the direction we're taking to deliver the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
GILBERT: We've had so much rain in recent times. Does it breed a sense of complacency around the need to deal with this, or does it make it easier in terms of buybacks and so on?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Look, I don't think it makes it either harder or easier because most people who have water entitlements, most farmers, for example, who have water entitlements, know that the long term future for the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is hotter and drier. And so, we might have a few good years of rain. In recent times, we've had too much rain in parts of the Basin. But the long term future for the Basin is that it will get hotter and drier. Water is a precious resource for the communities that rely on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan for their drinking water, for their industry, for farming, obviously, also, so very important for our environment. We know that if we don't have water in our rivers, those vital ecosystems where our native fish, our native birds breed, our beautiful 400 year old trees along the riverbanks, they cannot survive unless we get this plan right.
GILBERT: It says, the Productivity Commission, that there are still barriers to the plan being delivered. And reading a couple of the points out of the report today, it says outstanding water resource plans in NSW pose a significant risk to the plan. And also, this on Victoria. If the Victorian Government does not become a party to the Basin Plan, any additional offsets from Victorian led projects will be negligible. So, a couple of points at the state level that need to be responded to.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, absolutely. So, on NSW, when I became the Minister, none of the NSW water resource plans were complete. It is extraordinary that under nine years of the previous Coalition government, nothing had been done to bring NSW to the table. We've got half of the water resource plans accredited now from NSW, we're working on the others very closely with the NSW government and there's a strong sense of cooperation now to get those other plans finalised. Now, this is really important--
GILBERT: So that can be dealt with.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yes. I mean, this is really important. I know that people's eyes glaze over when we start talking about water resource plans. But until we have water resource plans in place, the Inspector General of Water Compliance can't do his job to make sure that NSW is doing its job to deliver water for the plan. When it comes to Victoria, look, I can't really explain the Victorian Government's position. They have consistently said they don't like water buybacks. Well, neither does NSW, but as the Commonwealth Minister, I am responsible for delivering on the plan and voluntary water purchase will be part of delivering this plan.
GILBERT: But it's all voluntary, as you say, it's all voluntary. That’s the key isn’t it?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: It's all voluntary. And what's weird about this is the Victorian Government is fine for one farmer to sell water to another farmer. They're fine for that to be sold across different river valleys. They're fine for the Canadian Public Service Pension Fund to buy that water, for anybody else to buy that water, but not the Commonwealth government to use for environmental water. It just makes no sense.
GILBERT: Yeah, well, it certainly doesn't make sense. Do you have any hope that you can shift their position on it?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I believe so. We're in productive conversations.
GILBERT: Okay. The industry now, just on this report today about a recycling tax, the recycling industry is urging you to carve out cardboard and paper from new regulations. Is this something you're open to?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: No, it's a nonsense story. I mean, the rules around recycling paper and cardboard were developed by the Morrison government in 2019. This has been coming for a long time.
GILBERT: So, you haven't ambushed the industry?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: No. Well, I don't know, it's a pretty slow ambush. And what the previous government said at that time is, Australia should be dealing with Australian rubbish, and we should be doing more recycling in Australia. The problem was they didn't set up any sort of system to achieve their objective, which was to recycle Australian paper and cardboard here.
So, since coming to government, we have been building recycling infrastructure. We've now committed across the Commonwealth state and private sector, over a billion dollars to recycling infrastructure. We have increased recycling capacity in Australia by 1.3 million tonnes. I recently opened the largest paper and cardboard recycling facility in the southern hemisphere in Melbourne. We've got the infrastructure. We shouldn't be exporting our rubbish overseas to be dealt with. Wherever we can possibly do it here in Australia, we should do it here. So, the levy only applies if people are taking their cardboard and paper overseas to be recycled. They should be doing it here and then they don't have to pay any levy. And by the way, sorry, this levy is not in place yet. This is something we are discussing with the industry.
GILBERT: Right.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: And it was developed in 2021 by the Morrison Government. So 2019, the policy came into effect. 2021, the previous government said there would be a levy if you kept exporting our waste. There's no surprise here. This is a long-time discussion.
GILBERT: A slow ambush, as you put it.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Very slow.
GILBERT: Just finally, a couple of ones before you go. The independent Helen Haines has tabled a private members bill. She's going to join me on the show shortly. This is to end pork barrelling, basically. Is the government open to legislation of this sort?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Look, we absolutely should stop any misuse of taxpayer funds, any use of taxpayer funds that is purely political rather than for the public good. And things like the commuter car parks that the previous government announced and sports rorts obviously take a toll on public confidence. The Finance Minister has asked her Department for further guidance on how we can strengthen the Commonwealth guidelines around grants. And, of course, we're open to making sure that every dollar of taxpayer money is used wisely and well.
GILBERT: And polling out today support for the tax changes, but hasn't really seen a bump in Labor's primaries. Should that be a cause for concern ahead of the Dunkley by-election?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, you know, we take nothing for granted with the Dunkley by-election. Jodie Belyea, our candidate, is fantastic. She's a local, she lives in Frankston, she's got a mortgage, a couple of kids. She is someone that my lovely friend Peta Murphy identified as a potential successor when Peta knew she was very ill. Jodie's been a great community advocate down there. She's set up a project that I've seen in operation, the Women's Spirit Project. It's a great project and it's why we're so focused on cost of living in the Dunkley by-election. Obviously, tax cuts, wage increases. We want people to earn more, keep more of what they earn and all those other cost of living measures electricity, childcare, medicines, bulk billing, all of that is top of mind for people in Dunkley.
GILBERT: Tanya Plibersek, appreciate your time.
END
