Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast and Member for Terrigal, Adam Crouch, has hit back at claims by the State Opposition that the NSW Government is not giving waste levy funds collected from councils back to help clean up efforts in bushfire affected communities.
Shadow Minister for Local Government, Greg Warren, said more than $770M was collected in 2018/19, with less than a quarter of that returned to councils to fund waste management programs.
The rest, he said, was used to “prop up state government coffers”.
Warren said funds collected from the levy should be distributed to councils that had been impacted by the bushfires to help cover the cost of clean up efforts.
“The financial burden placed on bushfire affected councils is, and will continue to be, enormous,” he said.
“It makes sense that funds from the waste levy be given to those bushfire affected councils so that they can get on with the clean-up and try to return the environment to some sort of normality as soon as possible.”
But Crouch said approximately one third of the waste levy was currently returned to the Environment portfolio through programs like Waste Less Recycle More, which is Australia’s largest waste and recycling program.
“The remaining two thirds goes towards essential government services like schools, hospitals and roads,” he said.
“Later this year, the NSW Government will be releasing a discussion paper that considers a broad set of issues for waste and resource recovery, including the operation of the waste levy.”
Crouch advised Central Coast Council CEO in a letter in January that the Government was working with councils and industry across the state to respond to challenges in the waste management sector.
“As part of this approach, the government is developing a 20-year Waste Strategy that is focused on delivering a sustainable, reliable and affordable waste system,” the letter said.
He encouraged Council to provide feedback on the strategy when released.
Source:
Media release, Feb 13
Shadow Minister for Local Government, Greg Warren
Media release, Feb 26
Member for Terrigal, Adam Crouch