Extract from The Guardian
Labor leader says carryover credits only used by Australian Liberal party and the Ukraine
The ivory trade, plastic bags and microbeads would be banned under a federal Labor government.
Bill Shorten announced the policies on Sunday, boosting Labor’s credentials on animal welfare and environmental protection ahead of the full release of its climate change policy, which is expected to include vehicle emissions standards and new pollution reduction requirements in various sectors.
After weeks of toughening Labor’s stance against using carryover carbon credits to effectively lower Australia’s emissions reduction target, Shorten gave a further indication they would not form part of Labor policy.
Shorten told reporters in Melbourne that use of carryover credits was
“a particular accounting technique that only the Australian Liberal
party and the Ukraine use”, explaining other nations had “turned their
back on it”.Bill Shorten announced the policies on Sunday, boosting Labor’s credentials on animal welfare and environmental protection ahead of the full release of its climate change policy, which is expected to include vehicle emissions standards and new pollution reduction requirements in various sectors.
After weeks of toughening Labor’s stance against using carryover carbon credits to effectively lower Australia’s emissions reduction target, Shorten gave a further indication they would not form part of Labor policy.
Shorten announced Labor would spend $290m on recycling initiatives, including a plan to ban single-use plastics by 2021 to protect vulnerable wildlife and reduce the amount of waste generated.
“Plastic has a devastating impact on our natural environment – more than a third of the world’s sea turtles were found to have plastic waste in their stomachs, and it is estimated around 90% of seabirds eat plastic waste,” Shorten said in a statement with Labor senators Penny Wong and Kim Carr and the party’s environment spokesman, Tony Burke.
Burke told reporters the government had set targets that by 2025 100% of materials should be recyclable and 70% should, in fact, be recycled but it had “offered no pathway as to how they would get there”.
Burke said the cash-for containers deposit scheme would be “opt-in”, promising to “work on the basis of the merits of the argument” to overcome states that resist the plan, like Victoria.
He said the problem with current schemes was that recycled plastic was prepared to different grades, an inconsistency that hurts businesses that use the recycled materials.
On Sunday Labor also announced it would work with the states and territories to implement a domestic ban on Australia’s commercial trade in elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn.
Australia has signed a convention banning possession or trade of ivory harvested after 1975 but there is no legal requirement for Australian sellers to provide any evidence at the point of sale demonstrating the legality, provenance or age of items containing elephant ivory or rhinoceros horn, allowing the law to be circumvented.
Senator Lisa Singh, who chaired a Senate inquiry on the issue, said the secondary market for ivory products “continues to fuel the poaching crisis of elephants and rhinos in Africa”.
She said Labor will deliver “appropriate penalties and new offences for individuals and companies which circumvent the ban”.
Despite the new policies, Burke has faced criticism from environmental groups for its failure to outline details of its proposed environmental protection agency.
The Greens have promised two new environmental agencies, including a regulator with wide-ranging powers to tackle climate change and land-clearing, adding pressure to Labor to provide detail to its own policy pledge.
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