Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Forestry Marketing and Research and Development Services Bill 2007 and the Forestry Marketing and Research and Development Services (Transitional and Consequential Provisions) Bill 2007 will establish a company limited by guarantee under the Corporations Act 2001 to assume the research and development functions currently provided by the FWPRDC and will incorporate the new functions of marketing and promotion.

This legislation effectively replaces the old forestry R&D statutory authority, the Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation, with a new R&D and marketing corporation called Forest and Wood Products Australia, FWPA. However, we need to ensure that the proposed administration of the new company will adequately represent the views of all affected parties within the forestry industry. We should make sure that everybody in this industry is given representation.

This legislation is not controversial. I believe it is important that marketing should be involved in any research and development strategy. By all reckoning, the timber industry needs all the promotion it can get. I would like to talk a little about the timber industry and the terrible misinformation that seems to be spread out and about, especially from Tasmania, without any real rhyme or reason.

The timber industry is a fine industry. It is an old industry with links back to the dawn of civilisation. Timber has been used over aeons for everything, from the home to transport to energy—to every part of the life of early man. It was and still is a very important and enduring part of our civilisation. Just think of the analogies nowadays and what trees are used for: there is the tree of life and the tree of knowledge; art gives the tree a vital part in every landscape; it is our muse and our balance in a chaotic environment; we talk about roots and the protection of spreading branches. So much of our life is dominated by trees and timber products. I would say that in some people’s minds there is a sacredness about trees that seems to ignore the very practical relationship between man and our forests, by growing them, cutting them down and growing them again. Trees are the ultimate sustainable product. They will survive long past man’s pitiable efforts to ‘save’ them from man.

Research and development over the years has developed timber and its products to great heights. Timber is used in some of our best designed furniture. In this Parliament House we see the magnificent timbers from around Australia fashioned into floors and fittings, contrasting beautifully with the natural stone and marble around the building. The timber inlays in the Marble Hall are some stunning examples of marquetry, which is now becoming fashionable again.

We have used tree and timber products as we have moved through the ages. Paper and paper making is so much part of our lives that people forget where it comes from. Paper is used for our newspapers, computer paper, art paper, labels and packaging on almost all our processed foods and many other household products, posters, books, magazines and notepads. In fact, as I looked at my desks, both here and at home, I thought that if paper did not exist I do not think I could survive. If we took paper out of our lives, it would be a very poor place indeed. Yet when someone suggests that they want to build a pulp mill in Tasmania, there is an uproar that it will ruin our lives because it might give out some emissions, put some effluent into the water or use a bit of the water. I say ‘might’ because there has so far been no proof of intention to do this. Surely, for the sake of being able to use our own trees and our own workers and being self-sufficient in the raw materials of our timber based products, we should at least allow the company to put its case without vilification at every turn.

Gunns has been part of our lives in Tasmania, as indeed has some of our timber. It is a Tasmanian company employing Tasmanians and developing some of our savings to help our economy. Its managing director is a long-term Tasmanian. He lives in the north and his office is in Launceston, and it is in his interests to ensure that his environment is not despoiled. He is no different from the rest of us.

Pulp mills are already in Tasmania and have been for some time. In fact, the family of a current Greens senator sold their land for the Wesley Vale pulp mill in the 1960s and now there are two pulp mills, a paper machine and an off-machine coater and manufacturers of a variety of office and specialty paper grades. Paper manufactured at Burnie is mostly plain paper for forms grade photocopying and offset printing and base grades which are then transported to Wesley Vale for coating. In 1989 there was an attempt to expand this pulp mill and there was such an outcry, led by the particular senator I referred to, that the proposal was dropped, and Tasmania had to wait nearly 20 years for someone to be brave enough to try for another one.

Pulp mills are a known factor to those who live around them, and we have had little trouble living with them since the 1930s. Like many other processing plants, there are problems from time to time but they are always fixable. I live in the town of Longford, where there is a meat processing plant. Local residents have for years lived next to the chimney plume which, in days gone by, used to exude an odour very like overcooked meal and meat. That problem has finally been solved. Although the plume is still there, and you can see when there is an inversion layer and you can see which way the wind is blowing, it has become a part of our lives and it harms nobody. Like people in Finland who live in a landscape full of pulp mills, these are benevolent giants in their communities, providing their jobs, their recreation and their economy. Why should ours be any different? With proper research and safeguards, any problems could be overcome. It does not have to divide communities. It is crazy to have scare campaigns running on emotion only. The facts seem to have mysteriously disappeared along with the science.

This is why we must ensure that there is ongoing independent research available for industries and their communities to make rational and informed decisions about the future. If there is a situation that could lead to a problem in the future then those people should be able to sit down and talk about it using up-to-date information and come to some useful and workable conclusion. I am not saying that this bill will necessarily provide all that but legislation should help people to help themselves in coming to terms with change and new directions. This bill gives us some hope that funds will be invested in research and development. I support the bill.

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