Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

This year marks the year of the forests. Forests are an integral part of human and animal survival. Through the management and sustainability of forests in the past few years there has been a great rebirth of endangered species. The theme 'Forests for People' celebrates the central role of people in the sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of the world's forests. The theme revolves around the multiple values of forests and the need for a 360-degree perspective. Forests provide shelter to people and habitat to biodiversity. They are a source of food, medicine and clean water and play a vital role in maintaining a stable global climate and environment. All these elements taken together reinforce the message that forests are vital to the survival and wellbeing of people everywhere. Forests provide welfare for living. They also provide welfare for survival.

Tumbarumba is in my electorate of the Riverina. Its major industry is softwood timber processing at the Hyne and Son timber mill, which is also the town's biggest employer. The Tumbarumba mill has been in operation since the 1970s, during which time it has undergone a number of upgrades to increase capacity and to take advantage of advances in technology. In 2001 Hyne and Son took over from Boral Limited and successfully upgraded in 2003-04 with the latest North American equipment and technology to ultimately process 900,000 cubic metres of radiata sawlogs per annum. Since the revamp, Tumbarumba's timber industry has thrived, with Hyne and Son employing more than 250 people within the Tumbarumba area. Since the rebuild, which cost approximately $120 million, the mill is the largest softwood processing mill in the Southern Hemisphere, and we are very proud of that in the Riverina. Hyne Timber is a privately owned timber-processing organisation where, as I say, more than 250 people are employed in management, administration and a broad range of activities required in the processing of timber—and that is not to mention the indirect jobs of truck drivers and in all sorts of other industries and occupations within the area.

Hyne Timber does a lot for the community of Tumbarumba. As well as being the largest employer, it provides a huge amount of support for the area. In 2004 the Hyne Community Trust Foundation in Tumbarumba was established for the community, and every second year, with the help of Tumbarumba Rotary, Hyne Timber sends a select group from the local year 11 and 12 high school to participate in the Kokoda trek. Hyne Timber is also a major sponsor for community events in and around the area, such as the Tumbafest and the Carcoola childcare art show.

We heard this morning from the shadow minister for climate action, environment and heritage, the member for Flinders, arguing that there is a better way to preserve forests as well as to protect the environment and to have a sustainable future. A global rainforest recovery program is possible, feasible and, under a coalition in government, would be a very real and positive policy. Forestry is not a dirty word. It worries me that a green legacy that we all want and need could go too far, especially with today's change in the Senate, leaving a black mark on sustainable forestry, an ecologically responsible future and the wellbeing of communities.

As New South Wales Premier, Bob Carr purchased Yanga Station near Balranald for $35 million and turned it into national park, promising a tourism bonanza. Mr Carr pressured Premier Nathan Rees to declare Riverina red gum forests as national parks even before the Rees-commissioned Natural Resources Commission report was completed. In an email campaign with activist organisation GetUp!, Mr Carr said more jobs would be created in the new national parks than lost from the timber industry—and we all know that that just has not transpired.

When Yanga Station was bought by the Carr government in 2005 and turned into a national park, communities were promised that the influx of 50,000 extra tourists would more than make up for jobs lost on the station and in the timber industry—and it is a whole load of rot. The same was said by the Rees government when the Riverina red gum forests were declared national parks in 2010. There was community scepticism that enough tourists would ever arrive to offset the closure of the timber industry, which just did not happen. Bob Carr made similar promises when he proclaimed a national park at Coolah, stating that 30,000 tourists a year would visit. Fifteen years later the major change at Coolah is the number of closed businesses.

Six years on from Yanga being turned into a national park and one year on from the Millewa Forest being declared as national park, all the evidence suggests that rural communities have once again been sold down the river with empty promises. (Time expired)

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