Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Denison for his question without notice. I have to tell him, in answer to his question, that the decision with respect to the forestry research grants to which he refers—that would have gone to the national centre for forestry CRC—was made by the previous government, before 30 June last year, and was not as a consequence of any decision this government has made.

On the broader issue of forestry research, let me tell him that I think the future for forestry research is very bright in Australia. Over the last four years, $13.7 million has been spent on forestry research. The CSIRO still maintains a large forest-sciences division, which they intend to continue to support.

Mr Fitzgibbon interjecting—

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