ABC Radio Perth interview with Minister for the Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek

SUBJECTS: WATER EFFICIENCY LABELLING AND STANDARDS SCHEME; FERAL CATS.

DOMINIQUE BAYENS, HOST: I want you to think back to the last time that you bought a new appliance that uses water, or maybe you put in new fittings for your home. Did you look at the water rating label? They're usually blue and have a star rating out of six stars. It's called the Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Scheme, also known as WELS, and it was put in place 17 years ago to help consumers choose water efficient products and to drive innovation. But last week, a Perth-based company by the name Renaissance Bathrooms, Traditional Taps, Cast Iron Baths and Belfast Sinks, all of which have the same sole director, were fined a whopping $2 million in the first civil penalty case for supplying products that were not registered or labelled as required by the scheme. Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek joins you now. Good afternoon to you, Minister.

TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Hi, Dom. How are you?

BAYENS: Yeah, well, thank you. How does the WELS water scheme work? How are products rated

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, they're rated on their water efficiency. And the reason this is important is we live in the driest inhabited continent on Earth and we know that water bills and the energy bills that go along with them are a big part of the average family's expenses every year. And so if you're using more water efficient products and appliances, you can save an average for a household of about $175 each year with the reduced heating and water bills. And the really important thing here is, when we think about that on a national scale, this WELS program has been absolutely fantastic in helping us save water. We've saved 158 gigalitres of water in 2022 because of the water efficiency scheme. That's the equivalent, if you can imagine this, of 63,200 Olympic size swimming pools. Imagine that, more than 63,000 Olympic size swimming pools saved in one year because of the water efficiency scheme. And that rounds up for households across Australia to almost a billion and a half dollars saved off their water and energy bills in 2022.

BAYENS: I know certainly, when I bought a new washing machine last year, I was looking out for those star ratings, but clearly some companies aren't following them. So how is the scheme regulated

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, this is a really interesting case because it is a really substantial penalty. And the reason the court ordered these four companies and the director himself, to pay just over $2 million worth of fines, close to $2.2 million, was because they had been selling these non-compliant products for five years. So that's really a pattern of behaviour over a long period of time. And the problem, of course, is that those products have gone into bathrooms and families who've been trying to do the right thing, they thought they were doing the right thing and, in fact, they've ended up with products that are non-compliant.

BAYENS: And what exactly have they been fined for doing?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, they've been fined for selling the non-compliant products and doing it knowingly. So, this isn't an accident. In fact, these four companies and their common director broke the law because they supplied unlabelled and unregistered products, including taps, showers and toilets between 2015 and 2019.

BAYENS: Minister for Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek is my guest on ABC Perth this afternoon talking about these Perth-based companies, all under the same sole director, which have been fined $2 million in the first civil penalty case for supplying products that were not registered or labelled as required by the Wels scheme. Your observations welcome on this 0437922720. What does this mean for people who may have had non-compliant products installed by these companies in their homes

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, I think it's worth people checking back if they had bathroom work done over these years and they are familiar with these companies or they use these companies. Maybe having a look at the products that they bought, they might be using more water than they expected when it comes time to upgrade those bathrooms and so on. Just be careful next time that you're getting what you're paying for, because we know that Australians are trying to do the right thing, as you say. They're checking the star rating when they're buying new bathroom appliances and they want to save water because it's good for the environment, because we live in a dry country, but also because it's good for their household bills. This isn't the fault of the individuals who bought the products. It is really an act of bad faith from the companies that were selling them.

BAYENS: Minister, I appreciate your time today. Before I let you go, just quickly, I'm talking cats this afternoon on ABC Perth. As Environment Minister, how do you feel about them?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Look, if you've got a cat, keep it inside, is my really, really strong plea to Australians. The average cat kills six animals a night when it's out roaming. And we've got about a million feral cats in Australia, so you think about that, 6 million animals every night killed by feral cats in Australia. So please, please keep your cat under control because they are really good at what they do, which is hunting creatures and killing them.

BAYENS: Minister, appreciate your time.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Sorry, I'm not a fan of the cats running wild.

BAYENS: Appreciate your time. Thanks for coming on.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Thank you.