Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Illegal Logging Prohibition Amendment (Strengthening Measures to Prevent Illegal Timber Trade) Bill 2024.

Let's make sure we draw the distinction here: illegal logging is a major global problem. The theft, laundering and trade of illegal timber happens across the world in all types of forests. Driven mostly by profit, illegal logging negative impacts on forest ecosystems, communities and economies. It is the world's most profitable environmental crime and it is linked to corruption, organised crime, civil war, exploitation and violations of human rights. In 2020, the tropics lost more than 12 million hectares of canopy—that's nearly 30 soccer fields going under the bulldozer every single minute. And none of it is replaced. The United Nations and Interpol estimate that illegal logging costs the global community up to $240 billion every year. That makes it the largest environmental crime, by value, in the world.

Australia is not immune to illegally logged products. Trade in low priced, illegally sourced timber undermines the prices that can be obtained for local, sustainably produced timber products. If you import wood, pulp or paper products into Australia or you process Australian-grown raw logs, the legislation now before the House affects you. You have legal responsibilities and you need to know your obligations. Under Australian law, illegal logging means the harvesting of timber in contravention of the laws of the country where the timber is harvested. This includes a wide range of illegal activities, such as logging of protected species, logging in protected areas, logging with fake or illegal permits and using illegal harvest methods. These have negative effects on supply chains, business decisions, industry profitability, investment and jobs in the Australian economy.

Timber harvesting in Australia is sustainably managed and regulated to the highest environmental standards in the world. Regional forest agreements are required to conform with the objectives of the act. I know there is a lot of disagreement across the House and even within political parties about the role of timber harvesting, particularly native timber harvesting, but the fact is that as a sector it is remarkably well managed and, overall, sustainable. It's not perfect; no agriculture sector is. There are pollution aspects of dairy farming and there are land-clearing aspects of beef farming and, I'm sure, other subsectors of agriculture. Timber harvesting has its issues as well but, by and large, it is highly regulated, and it creates a lot of jobs and is very important for regional communities. It is vital that we draw a distinction. Native forestry practice in Australia is nothing like the illegal operations that exist overseas, particularly across the tropics, and any attempt to draw parallels between illegal logging overseas and native forestry in Australia must be condemned.

The Australian government is committed to working with the international community to address illegal logging. In 2012 Australia introduced world-leading illegal logging prohibition legislation that was amongst the first of its kind internationally. That legislation seeks to reduce the harmful impact of illegal logging by restricting the importation and sale of illegally logged timber products in Australia and the processing of domestically grown raw logs that have been illegally logged. However, recent reviews of that legislation have identified challenges associated with its enforcement, including in identifying contraventions and taking appropriate and timely compliance action. Further, international approaches to regulating the illegal timber trade have evolved since 2012, especially with the successful use of cutting-edge timber identification technologies in some countries. This bill seeks to address the challenges with the current legislation and modernise it to ensure that it is fit for purpose now and into the future.

This bill aims to amend the act to consolidate offences in the act with civil penalty provisions currently in the regulation for clarity and consistency in accordance with the principles in the Guide to Framing Commonwealth Offences, Infringement Notices and Enforcement Powers; to provide for audits to be undertaken in relation to whether importers of regulated timber products and processors of raw logs have complied with their due diligence requirements, to better identify patterns of compliance or noncompliance with the legislation; and to enable the making of decisions on further enforcement or educational activities in relation to regulated entities. It will also provide for alternative and more flexible enforcement options, including through the addition of strict liability offences and civil penalty provisions.

The bill will extend the monitoring and investigation powers under the Regulatory Powers (Standard Provisions) Act 2014 in relation to taking, testing and analysing samples of regulated timber products and trigger the provisions in the act relating to injunctions and enforceable undertakings.

It will enable inspectors under the act to exercise regulatory power in relation to regulated timber products that are subject to biosecurity and customs control, including taking, testing and analysing samples of the regulated timber products in order to determine their species and harvest origin. Timber testing can confirm if timber products are illegally sourced through closely pinpointing the species and harvest origin, and facilitates assessment of the adequacy of an importer's or processor's due diligence.

It will provide for the time period within which an infringement notice may be given under the Regulatory Powers Act in respect of a strict liability offence or a civil penalty provision of the act to be 24 months to allow sufficient time for compliance action. It will require notice to be given of regulated timber products brought into Australia and unloaded at a landing place or port in Australia, and of the processing of raw logs within Australia, to allow for more efficient compliance action. It authorises the use and disclosure of relevant information under the act in certain circumstances, and the publication of details of contraventions of the act on the department's website to provide a further deterrent for noncompliance.

It provides protection from civil proceedings in the exercise of certain powers or the performance of functions under the act, to align with similar protections in other portfolio legislation. It ensures provisions apply to importers of regulated timber products and processors of raw logs that are partnerships, trusts or unincorporated bodies and associations. It also enables disallowable rules to be made by the minister under the act to provide for matters that require more frequent adjustment, to ensure regulatory settings are appropriate and effective. Overall, this makes the act better and stronger and more suited for the decade ahead.

I am absolutely proud—very proud—to represent the forestry communities and forestry workers of my electorate of Lyons and of my home state of Tasmania. They do fantastic work. Around 70,000 Australians are directly employed in the growing and processing of forest products, and tens of thousands more are indirectly supported along supply chains. In Tasmania, the sector supports around 5,000 jobs. Annually, the sector generates $23 billion of economic activity.

I had the pleasure of welcoming the Prime Minister to Tasmania over the weekend to announce the phenomenal $11.3 billion of investment into housing. We want quality and homegrown Tasmanian timber to build our new Tasmanian homes. At the moment, most of the construction timber in Tassie comes from the mainland. Of course it is all plantation timber—that's just the nature of the construction industry. I know I stand at perhaps some differential with members of my own party on this, but I believe there is absolutely a place to continue native forest logging. I've been very happy with the Prime Minister and the agriculture minister. They've been quite clear that there is a place for native forest harvesting, particularly in Tasmania, but, as we know, it generally comes under state jurisdiction. The fact is there is a place for it and it has a role. It is absolutely highly regulated.

I recently met with Marcus Courtney from McKay Timber in Prospect Vale in my electorate, who is working wonders making affordable homes from Tasmanian timber. The majority of the Tasmania timber struts are built in the warehouse rather than on-site, meaning they can be built up to three times faster with the same quality workmanship. He puts these struts on this platform and he knocks it together. I asked him, 'How long would it take to construct a home using this sort of mechanism, rather than getting out on site?' He said, 'You know, it would take days rather than weeks.' Of course, the industry is slow to adapt and that's the reality that we have.

It's no secret that there is a shortage of timber worldwide. I'm not sure if many members of the House appreciate the insatiable demand there is worldwide for timber right now. It's very hard to come by and this is why this bill, this amendment to the act, is so important today, because too much of that timber is being illegally sourced. There's big money for illegal loggers to illegally log the rainforests of South-East Asia, across the tropics, Brazil, the Amazon, Laos, Vietnam and other areas. They're there, and they're illegally logging. They're not doing what we do in Tasmania—that is, harvest the tree and replant and manage it for the future; they are cutting down trees, they're deforesting, they're maybe putting in some palm oil plantations and they're absolutely wiping out ecosystems. The best way to stop the pressure on that increasing is to support sustainable harvesting in Tasmania. When you support a sustainable and well-managed industry, and you give it the support it needs, you take the pressure off people who seek timber in going to the illegal suppliers.

Good forestry is absolutely good for the environment. I've got a book here; I'll briefly hold it up, but I know props are not welcomed. It is Heartwood: The Art and Science of Growing Trees for Conservation and Profit, by Rowan Reid. It's a good read. He's a forest scientist, and he makes the point I've made in previous speeches: good forestry is not conservation or industry; it's conservation and industry. Harvesting trees is a renewable industry. We've got timber all around us here—the tables, everything. The carbon is locked up. Having timber in our lives adds to our lives. I can't imagine a world where, if certain segments of the Greens party got their way, we would have none of this; it would all be plastic, cement and concrete, and no timber—terrible! I love having timber in our lives, but it's got to be well managed, well resourced and well regulated—and that's exactly what the Australian industry is. There is always room for improvement, absolutely, but the last thing we want to do is shut it down.

The amendments in this bill will help make Australia an even less attractive destination for illegally sourced timber and further protect Australia's reputation in international markets as a supplier of sustainable and legally sourced timber products now and into the future. By reducing the volume of low-priced, illegally harvested timber, by making sure they're not supplanting the legal marketers, by reducing the volume of low-priced timber and timber products in the Australian market, the bill helps minimise the negative economic impacts that trade in such products has on local, sustainably produced products, supply chains and industry profitability. We reward those who do the right thing.

The reforms in this bill will benefit the businesses and organisations that grow and sustainably harvest, process, manufacture, distribute and sell legally sourced timber and timber products. I thank every single member of my timber communities and timber associations for the hard work they do in making sure we have a sustainable, well-managed timber harvesting industry going forward.

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