Oil Stewardship Advisory Council - 8th Meeting, 26 June 2003

AGENDA			DRAFT MINUTES
No.	Item	Background/Report	Discussion/Action	Further Action Required	Time Frame
1	Welcome	Attendees: Mike Williamson (Chair), Mark Borlace, Harold Grundell, Cathie Halliday, Paul Howlett, Martin Kirwan, Ewan Macpherson, Gary O'Connor, Bob Pullinger, Fred Wren, Peter Burnett Observers: David Braham, Doug Hagen.Apologies: Peter Holt Environment Australia secretariat: Paul Dworjanyn, Megan Smith, Julie Quinn. Visitors: Ms Anthea Tinney for presentation of Item 12 and for morning tea. Mr Walter Gerardi from MMA and Mr Drew Collins from BDA for presentation and discussion on Item 8.	Wayne Hart has resigned from OSAC.
2	Adoption of the Draft Agenda	Agenda Item 12 moved to immediately following introductions for Ms Tinney to address and Agenda Item 8 following for Mr Gerardi and Mr Collins.	OSAC adopted the draft agenda.
3	Previous Minutes	Minutes of the 7th meeting, 11 February 2003 in Canberra.	OSAC accepted the previous minutes. Moved: Cathie Halliday Seconded: Bob Pullinger
4	Declaration of Conflicts of Interest in Agenda Items	The Chair invited members to declare conflicts of interest in accordance with article 29 of the PSO Act 2000.	No conflicts of interest were declared.
5	Oral report from EA on the Outcomes of the Federal Budget	Ms Anthea Tinney and Mr Peter Burnett from EA explained the outcomes of the budget for PSO funding. $25M of PSO funds redirected to other environment protection priorities (Sustainable Cities program). Reprioritisation of funds was consistent with EA advice to OSAC. It was the result of agreement between the Government and Democrats and not due to internal Departmental reallocation. Priority is being placed on continued infrastructure roll-out to Local Governments, bottoms (bitumen like oil re-refining residues), and remote oil issues. Cabinet has imposed a cap on spending for FY 03-04 and 04-05. This has implications for roll-out of the communications program. Additional staff are being taken on in AWR to allow more in-house work with a particular focus on communications work.	Members expressed concern about the communications budget, especially in the 2003-04 FY. Ms Halliday asked if there was any flexibility to increase the funding for communications activities in FY2003-04. Mr Burnett said there is little flexibility but undertook to review the draft budget when more detailed costings were available to see if further funds could be found for communications.	Chair to raise communications funding as an issue in letter to Minister.	August
6	Presentation by MMA/BDA on Tradeable Certificates	Mr Walter Geradi and Mr Drew Collins presented their draft report on a possible tradable certificate system for used oil (UOCS). All stakeholders should have a copy of the report. Comments are due to MMA/BDA by 9 July. Ms Anthea Tinney outlined the process with the report. The Minister will consider the final report and decide if there should be a trial. In making his decision the Minister may draw upon advice from OSAC, industry and government. Should a trial be completed the final decision goes to Cabinet.	There was general discussion on the benefits of a UOCS compared with a levy/benefit system. How would a stockpile of used oil or a lack of suitable markets be handled in a UOCS? - The UOCS is designed to provide incentive to find other markets. The UOCS requires registering of recycled oil users. This could be difficult in some industries where there are many small users. Govts should be aware of the OH&S implications of increased registration. - Registering may be necessary to ensure sustainable uses of used oil. OSAC felt it would be important to define the scope of a UOCS in the final report and state what used oil issues could be addressed with this type of system. The draft report concluded that there was no significant benefit of a UOCS system over the current levy/benefit system.	OSAC to advise the Minister on UOCS following receipt of the final report.
7	Oral report from the ATO	EA reported on behalf of Peter Holt, ATO. From the 11 month report of the 2002-03 FY, $21.03 million had been collected in levies, $8.91 million paid in benefits. 43 claimants are registered. It is estimated that 200 million litres of used oil will be recycled in the year.	Members felt that 200 M litres was an excellent achievement, particularly if unreported used oil recycling is taken into account. OSAC noted it would need to advise on an appropriate target for used oil recycling.	OSAC advice on target to link to mid-term review.	March 2004
8	Transitional Assistance Funds	TA projects are underway with 2 EPAs and one LGA to provide TA funding for local government used oil facilities. A list was provided of all TA grants and Local Government facility grants. EA invited OSAC's advice on whether there should be a general EOI round in February 2004 as per usual, or whether the Government should focus on targeted rounds in the future. E.g. a request for tender for a bottoms solution.	OSAC agreed funding should be targeted. OSAC to provide advice on issues.	Chair to advise Minister.	August 2003
9	Performance Measures in the Strategic Plan	EA reported on the return of the communications strategy from the MCGC and revisions in light of the new budget. $0.4 M spent to acquire licences to allow a searchable database on the EA website enabling people to search for oil collection facilities by inserting their postcode. Performance Indicators (PI) 1 and 2 completed.	Bob Pullinger suggested another PI could be included to look at markets for used oil. - A sixth PI will be investigated in the strategic plan.	Strategic WG to investigate	August WG meeting
10	OSAC working group reports	Communications Markets and Collection HolisticStrategic	Communications WG suggested OSAC recommend that EA: predominantly target Local Governments with factsheets, fridge magnets and other information materials. provide oil recycling scripts for producers' hotlines. provide factsheets to umbrella organisations. provide press releases to rural and regional papers. OSAC endorsed the Communications WG recommendations and will append to the Ministers advice. Markets and Collection WG's recommended to OSAC: Mr Matthew Warnken gave a presentation on investigating the use of used oil in the hydroponic and greenhouse industries. This project was funded under EOI round 2. WG will make themselves available for discussion with Warnken Industrial and Social Ecology. Industry procedures are needed for the greenhouse industry. A market strategy for greenhouse related issues needs to be formed by the WG. Remote area collection issues need to be addressed. Collection WG outlined the need for an estimate of used oil generated and the target used oil recycled. The Holistic WG did not meet. Strategic WG discussed options for enhancing the performance and influence of OSAC with its allocated budget $60,000. The Chair proposed new operational arrangements for OSAC and invited members to comment. Arrangements were: A new steering group to be established taking over from where the strategic group left off. The communications strategy and holistic issues will be a major focus of this group. The other working groups (market, collections and holistic) may not be necessary. OSAC (full council) will meet twice in the FY 2003-04, meeting 9 in November in Brisbane and meeting 10 in May/June in Sydney. The strategic/steering group will continue to meet in the margins of the full OSAC meeting. In addition, the steering group will also meet out of session in August (Canberra), Feb-Mar (Canberra) and one other meeting of the steering group as required. These arrangements should help to focus the work of OSAC and with a smaller steering group it would be possible to engage more directly with high level government officials (Dep Sec and FAS). OSAC endorsed the chairs proposal. The Chair agreed to finalise details out of session.	Chair to advise Minister. EA to provide Warnken with WG contact details. Chair to advise Minister.	August 2003 ASAP
11	Report from EA on Exemptions from the PSO Levy	EA reported on the passing of the Bill through the House of Representatives. It should be considered by the Senate in the spring sitting of Parliament.	Noted
12	Action items from previous meeting	Delynda report The Delynda report has been received by EA. Update on the Oil testing The amended Regulations were signed by the Governor General on 8 April. They will sit in both houses of Parliament for 15 sitting days. The Regulations are back-dated to 1 July 2002.	The final Delynda report will be distributed to OSAC members. Members agreed a presentation from Delynda was not required. Noted	EA to circulate report.	August 2003
13	OSAC Re-Appointments	Formal letters of offer from the Minister are about to be sent. EA invited OSAC advice on whether a replacement for the category "user of oil", formerly provided by Mr Wayne Hart, should come from the CIF.	Noted Members discussed whether the CIF or a user from the greenhouse industry would be more appropriate and left the issue with the Government.	EA to progress and report to Steering Group
14	PSO Annual Report	EA reported that the Annual Report was tabled in Parliament. In the future, it will be part of the EA Annual Report.	Noted
Other business	Remuneration tribunal rates and OSAC budget PSO Review and Economic Modelling	Remuneration rates for OSAC members increased on 5 April 2003. The OSAC budget was discussed earlier in the meeting. EA advised that seven tenders to review the Transitional Assistance element of the PSO program had been received. Two seemed promising. The Chair would be consulted prior to a final recommendation from EA to the Minister.	Noted Noted
15	Next meeting	OSAC November in Brisbane. Strategic WG August 2003 in Canberra.	Noted Mtg to include 1 hour with Ms Tinney or Mr Glyde.	EA to roganise