Plastic bags off the shelf in Victoria as Labor moves to ban them after a decade of trying

Victoria is banning single-use plastic shopping bags. Labor Premier Daniel Andrews on Network Ten’s The Project, Tuesday:

We know that this is really important for our environment, particularly for our waterways, for landfill, for waste management.

Again ... Jon Faine grills Andrews’s Environment Minister on ABC Radio Melbourne, yesterday:

We’ve counted up. It’s the third or fourth time that this announcement has been made. So what’s different this time to the announcements? Even as far back as 10 years ago, when Steve Bracks was premier and (he) ­announced plastic bags were to be banned?

Victorian Labor tried to ban plastic bags under Steve Bracks. The Age, June 17, 2006:

Free plastic bags in Victoria will be banned from 2009, with shoppers forced to pay a 10 cent levy on single-use bags.

Didn’t work out. The Age, April 21, 2008:

The Victorian government has been accused of letting industry decide ­environment policy after replacing a promised compulsory plastic bags levy with a system run voluntarily by retailers.

Latest Labor Premier Daniel Andrew tried to lead a national ban on bags. Herald Sun, March 3 last year:

Victorians face a supermarket plastic bag ban after the Andrews government committed to developing a ­national approach to bin them.

Didn’t work out either. Victorian Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio speaking to The Age, June 22:

We believe that a national ban is the most effective way to address the issue but we have not ruled out going it alone.

Third time’s a charm for Victorian Labor, huh? D’Ambrosio responds on ABC Radio Melbourne, yesterday:

Faine: Ten years ago, Minister. What’s different now?

D’Ambrosio: Well, we’re actually going to do it.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, like Dan Andrews, is also a leftie goody-two-shoes. Rock magazine Rolling Stone’s cover story on Trudeau, June 26:

Trudeau heads back toward his three-car motorcade that stops at all red lights. In the hall, a couple hundred kids hold signs that say “Hope” and “Respect”. They grab his sleeve and then skitter away wearing giant smiles. It would have been corny if it had not been so goddamned ­beautiful.

But he’s made a bit of a boo-boo while trying to be as PC as possible. Trudeau on Twitter, yesterday:

Diwali Mubarak! We’re celebrating in Ottawa tonight. #HappyDiwali!

You’ve mixed up Diwali and “Eid Mubarak” there, buddy. London’s The Sun, September 1:

Eid Mubarak is a traditional Muslim greeting reserved for the holy festivals of Eid ul-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.

Diwali is a Hindu festival, not a Muslim one. The Sun, Tuesday:

The five-day festival, which coincides with Hindu New Year, is seen to be one of the most significant in the ­Indian culture.

Trudeau’s lucky he’s not in India. BBC News, October 15:

The decision by an Indian court in May to annul the marriage of a Hindu woman who converted ... and married a Muslim man has grabbed headlines