Jodie Campbell (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to touch on forestry this morning and ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry some questions on forestry. In my electorate of Bass, and in the Braddon electorate of the Deputy Speaker, Mr Sidebottom, the forestry industry is a major stakeholder. Minister, the major stakeholders in that industry were very pleased that very soon after the election—I think it was about four or five weeks after the election—you came to visit my electorate and gave a talk to them in Launceston. They were very impressed with your honesty and that you wanted to learn a lot about your portfolio, so they are very keen to work with you.

In the north-east, where forestry is significant, I have two mills that employ 300 people. What I would like to draw to your attention today is that those two mills have been in jeopardy for some time now. I have been a great advocate of those mills. I would like to acknowledge the hard work, commitment and dedication of Dean Smith and Eva Down, two people who work at those mills and have led a very strong campaign to keep them afloat. I think we all know that, as is the case for regional and rural communities, in a place such as Scottsdale, if we lose those mills and 300 jobs are lost, there goes a whole community.

I was quite proud that, as one of our key election commitments, a newly formed Rudd government would provide $1 million to tackle illegal logging. People in my electorate were very pleased about that. Through working with our regional neighbours and within Australia, this will restrict the sale of illegally logged timber.

There were two critical areas where the former government failed to act. They failed to address the skills shortage, which is a problem for a lot of areas across the country but is quite prevalent in the forestry industry. The second area was climate change, which, as we know now, they were very sceptical about. My question to you, Minister, is in relation to climate change and skills shortage. Could you please advise what the measures are we have taken in the budget which will affect the forestry industry? I would also like to ask a question about the $20 million package we announced for preparing Australia’s forestry industry for the future. What will it cover and how will the measures benefit the industry in my electorate? If you could answer those questions I would be most pleased.

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