Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Environment spokesperson
This Clean Up Australia Day, the new Minister for Environment, Roger Jaensch, should release his plan for making the day obsolete.
Hundreds of Tasmanians have rolled out of bed on a Sunday morning to pick up litter in waterways and on verges, while the Liberals snooze on a container deposit scheme and resource reuse targets.
We need action to consign Clean Up Australia Day to the rubbish bin of history.
The Liberals have dismissed the community for six years in favour of large beverage corporations who have been actively lobbying to stall Tasmania’s container deposit scheme for as long as possible.
Littering in Tasmania could be thing of the past if we followed Europe’s lead.
Instead of letting multinational companies call the shots, the European Union is taking the wheel and recognising the tremendous financial benefits of treating ‘waste’ as a scarce and valuable resource. They’ve honed in on landfills as a missed opportunity, and will be mining all the 5009 landfill sites across 27 countries.
Meanwhile, the Gutwein Government is asleep to this opportunity, and Tasmania is lagging - equal last across the country in rolling out a waste levy and a container deposit scheme.
Tasmanians want to see the government leading in the war on waste, to keep our island clean and grow a future jobs-rich industry. They will expect to see legislation for a State Waste Levy debated this year, and money for a container deposit scheme in the upcoming State Budget.