What’s happening in Canberra? TEC’s director Jeff Angel spends a lot of time in the corridors of power, lobbying and lending his expertise to MPs looking for solutions and grappling with legislation. He was in Canberra this week to meet with the Coalition shadow environment ministers, Greg Hunt and Simon Birmingham, and to advise them on policy for creating infrastructure in Australia for the recycling of problematic and toxic materials, including e-waste and excessive packaging. He also met the ALP Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water who introduced the pioneering Product Stewardship bill the next day. Jeff talked up the Container Deposit System which has been running successfully in South Australia for over thirty years, and which was also recently adopted by the Northern Territory. “A CDS would create the infrastructure of drop-off centres to make it easy for people who want to responsibly dispose of all sorts of items, from plastic bottles to mobile phones,” said Jeff. “It’s the sort of new system we urgently need in Australia.”

NSW State Election Environment groups have expressed disappointment with the “patchy” environment policies of the major parties in the run up to tomorrow’s NSW state election. “They are not as comprehensive or ambitious as they have been in the past. The Coalition has committed to the Dharawal Nt Pk and has some useful plans for increasing funding to National Park management, and shown strong support for endangered species protection. The ALP committed to protecting koalas in state forests, and to a new wider ranging policy on waste and recycling. “Frustratingly, neither of the two major parties, however, have committed to any substantial Climate Change Action programs,” they said.

Meeting the Lord with the Green Awards TEC’s business engagement program, Green Capital was pleased to host an afternoon in conversation with Lord Deben this week.  He has been hailed by FOE and Greenpeace in the UK as the politician who has done the most for the environment. Engaging and eloquent, the right honourable Lord Deben, (better known as John Gummer before he was knighted), was a conservative politician for over 35 years and served in Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet. In stark contrast to the conservative agenda in Australia as exemplified by Tony Abbott, Lord Deben joined with Margaret Thatcher as climate change campaigners at senior levels of the UK government and Europe. It was inspiring to hear someone from the right hand of the political spectrum still passionately advocating for the environment.

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