The Product Lifecycle Responsibility Bill 2025 is an important bill that seeks to establish a mandatory product stewardship framework for brand owners of certain products. As all members know, technology powers more and more items used in many parts of our daily lives— from our toothbrushes and mobile phones to micromobility scooters and power tools. Increasingly, lithium ion batteries are becoming important components of our everyday lives and will become essential as we decarbonise our economy. A major issue is the number of fires resulting from that use. The harms from battery‑related fires resulting from incorrect battery disposal are growing rapidly. Fire and Rescue NSW has highlighted that lithium ion batteries are the fastest growing fire risk in New South Wales. I imagine that statistic is reflected across Australia and indeed in other parts of the world.

Poor-quality batteries continue to enter the market with limited safety systems to prevent them overheating or igniting. Fires ignite either spontaneously in homes or when the batteries and products are punctured in a waste truck or at a waste facility after people dispose of them improperly in kerbside and commercial waste bins. The problem is escalating in New South Wales. Fire and Rescue report almost one battery‑related fire per day. In 2024 there were 323 incidents, including 33 injuries and 1,125 evacuations. Research from the waste and recycling industry in 2024 estimated the waste sector deals with between 10,000 and 12,000 fires a year caused by the improper disposal of lithium ion batteries.

Sadly, just last month, a 21‑year‑old international student died in a house fire in Guildford that was suspected to have been caused by an e‑bike battery. In 2024 two people died in Lake Macquarie from a battery fire. Batteries, when not disposed of correctly, pose significant risks to human health and the environment. It is critical to address the problem. In the two years of reporting since data collection started in 2022, there have been a total of 456 lithium ion battery incidents. The number rose from 171 in 2022 to 285 in 2023, an increase of two‑thirds. The heat map by local government area shows that the densely packed City of Sydney area chalked up 25 fires in 2023, up from 16 in 2022, which is an increase of 56 per cent in just one year. Those figures are only for fires where the fire brigade was called to attend, so they probably understate the overall number.

In my electorate of Liverpool the number of lithium ion battery fires rose from just one in 2022 to 11 in 2023—a thousandfold percentage increase in just 12 months. Canterbury-Bankstown had three fires in 2022 and 15 in 2023, which is a 400 per cent increase. They are concerning figures that highlight a trend that we must act upon. Although there are existing Commonwealth voluntary product stewardship schemes for batteries intending to properly manage batteries at the end of their life, scheme participation rates are as low as 15 per cent. That means many battery suppliers are free‑riding on the participation of others, which limits the funding available for schemes to deliver wide-reaching communications about disposal and convenient and accessible collection point infrastructure.

Using New South Wales laws to mandate participation in product stewardship for those who do not want to join voluntary Commonwealth schemes would require free riders to participate and would enable incredibly important communications and infrastructure to be developed. Mandatory participation would improve resourcing available for public awareness campaigns about battery risks and advertising of collection point networks, and enable innovative responses by market leaders. It gives New South Wales the strongest powers in the country to ensure that we respond to the lithium ion battery issue.

The Minister for Emergency Services mentioned recently that Fire and Rescue NSW is working with the Minister for Skills, TAFE and Tertiary Education, Minister Whan, and the TAFE crew on some great education practices. The bill will enable New South Wales to step in to address ineffective voluntary Commonwealth schemes. In practice, New South Wales schemes could be created where there is no existing mandatory product stewardship scheme for a particular product established under Commonwealth law. The framework established under the bill allows the Minister to prescribe by regulation the mandatory environmental outcomes that must be delivered by product stewardship schemes for any aspect of the life cycle of a product, including the development, design, creation, production, assembly, supply, use or re-use, collection, recovery, recycling or disposal of a product.

The legislation also provides the framework to ensure there is regulatory oversight of product stewardship organisations when dealing with products that can cause harm. The use of a product stewardship organisation to manage and oversee a scheme enables an escalating response where brand owners have failed to deliver sustainable product stewardship outcomes. The bill carries significant penalties for brand owners—the supplier who owns a product name—who fail to comply with product stewardship requirements and in particular for contraventions of safety requirements. The bill replaces existing provisions about product stewardship in the Plastic Reduction and Circular Economy Act 2021 and the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Act 2001.

I understand that the NSW Environment Protection Authority has engaged extensively with New South Wales government agencies, waste and resource recovery operators, battery recyclers, current Commonwealth voluntary stewardship scheme operators, waste and battery recycling peak bodies, environmental advocates, suppliers and sellers of batteries, retail online marketplaces, and environmental regulators in other Australian jurisdictions. Stakeholders are broadly supportive of taking action to prevent battery-related fires and increasing producer responsibilities. They recognise the significant dangers of battery-related fires and the need for New South Wales to act urgently. I thank the Minister and her team and the department for their hard work. The issue of lithium ion batteries is concerning and deserves attention and action from this Government. Lithium ion batteries are here to stay, so let us make sure we deal with them well.