Call to spend landfill levy wisely

ENVIRONMENT Victoria has welcomed the Auditor General’s report on the landfill levy, and said the findings showed the levy could be used to deal with Victoria’s growing waste crisis and tackle climate change.

The levy puts a price on every tonne of waste that is sent to landfill, and the money raised is used to provide income for Victoria’s Sustainability Fund, which was set up to deliver programs that improve waste management and reduce carbon emissions.

The Auditor General’s report, released last week, reveals that since 2005 about $1.7 billion has been collected by the levy, with $562 million being fed into the Sustainability Fund, but until recently this revenue has not been used for its intended purpose.

“It is outrageous that successive governments have just been sitting on half a billion dollars specifically earmarked to improve sustainability in Victoria,” Environment Victoria campaigns manager Dr Nicholas Aberle said.

“This is the first time in years that the Sustainability Fund has been used for its intended purpose and not to simply prop up the budget.

“While it’s heartening that the Andrews government is starting to spend the fund, we need to significantly scale up expenditure on programs that improve waste management and cut carbon pollution.

“We’re pleased to see our state government starting to is stepping up and finally use the Sustainability Fund in the way it was intended – to tackle issues such as waste management and climate change.”

He said Victoria had taken some encouraging first steps to improve recycling, but there was still much more to be done “and we’ve got the money to do it”.

“It’s time for treasurer Tim Pallas to open his wallet and start investing in solutions that will solve our waste crisis, tackle climate change and create sustainable jobs.

“We know Victorians want a sustainable future for our state and ahead of the November election we’ll be making sure that sustainability, the environment and climate change are front-of-mind issues for political parties vying for votes.”