Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Environment spokesperson
The Liberals had the chance to make a bold statement and a tangible difference when it comes to tackling waste in Tasmania, but their plan falls far short of what’s needed.
As a state we generate a mountain of waste, and there’s widespread community and council concern about mismanagement. The Liberals’ plan only puts off the strong action we need to tackle it.
Almost all targets in their so-called ‘Action Plan’ are woefully inadequate relative to the scale of the waste problem.
Environment Minister, Elise Archer’s plan is an industry-led response. These same unchecked industries have helped created the massive problems our community and environment now face.
As we have seen, industries will stall as long as they can on any change. We need much stronger government targets and actions to clean up the mountains of waste clogging up waterways and landfill sites.
A council-agreed state waste levy has been sitting in consecutive Environment Ministers’ in-trays since 2014 - yet the government’s plan stalls the sign it off until 2021.
Elise Archer’s waste plan is completely out of proportion with the issues our island, and the whole world, is confronting.
The Greens encourage all those Tasmanians and councils fighting the war on waste to put in a submission and let the Liberals know their plan is nowhere near strong enough.