Oil Stewardship Advisory Council - 2nd Meeting, 23 April 2001

The Oil Stewardship Advisory Council (OSAC), held its second meeting in Adelaide on Monday 23 April. A list of attendees is attached.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) reported on the progression of the Product Stewardship Arrangements for Waste Oil. The ATO noted that take-up of the benefits by recyclers was relatively low, but that this is likely to be due to start-up effects. Collections of revenue from the oil excise are currently on budget.

Environment Australia (EA) reported on the submissions that had been received requesting exemption from the oil levy. The two main reasons for claiming exemption have been oil that is used to produce "non-oil" products such as cosmetics or tyres; and/or for economic reasons where smaller scale companies compete with overseas competitors who do not pay the levy. EA is working with ATO/ACS (Customs) to examine all cases for exemptions.

Environment Australia presented a scoping paper for study to address the gaps in current information on waste oil, as a result of discussions from the previous meeting. It was acknowledged that there are data gaps in some areas, especially the small business user and the 'do-it-yourself' (DIY) markets. OSAC supported a brief but comprehensive report of waste oil flows. The main points of discussion were concerned with the level of technical detail in the proposed report, the structure of the report and the costing and timing of the consultancy.

The Council spent some time discussing the nature and scope of the Transitional Assistance Project Bids received by Environment Australia, although specific bids were not tabled nor discussed. It was agreed that OSAC recommend to Senator Hill the bids which focussed on the provision of collection infrastructure in remote and regional areas in conjunction with appropriate education and awareness measures. Local government was seen as the most appropriate delivery mechanism.

The next OSAC meeting is set down for early July in Sydney.

Attendance

Members

Mike Williamson (Chair)
Mark Borlace
David Braham
Patrick Colmer (for Mark Jackson)
Phillip Glyde
Doug Hagen
Cathie Halliday
Paul Howlett
Martin Kirwan
Graham McGarry
Bryan Nye
Gary O'Connor (for Alan Feely)
Andrew Poole

Others

Graeme Marshall (Environment Australia)
Emily Cripps (Environment Australia)
Donna Bond (Secretariat officer)
Susan Jeanes (Senator Hill's office) (present for only part of meeting)