Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Illegal logging is an evil for many reasons. It occurs on a small scale within Australia and on a larger, organised scale in a number of other countries. Illegal logging occurs without the regulatory environment that guides logging in most cases. It leads to deforestation at a time when, more than ever, we need to value and preserve our forests. That habitat loss risks species loss, especially where there is a lack of regulation.

Safety and other conditions of work will largely be absent in illegal operations which, unsurprisingly, are often conducted by entities involved in organised crime in other markets. The illegally sourced product, once in the market, will have the effect of reducing the price of comparable timber and timber products through market forces, putting pressure on our own domestic industries. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry's website records that the United Nations and Interpol estimate that illegal logging costs the global community up to $240 billion a year, making it the largest environmental crime, by value, in the world. It is salient that when the 2012 legislation was put to the parliament, 12 years ago, Dr Mike Kelly, the then member for Eden-Monaro, upon introducing the bill, estimated of the cost of illegal logging at $60 billion. That is four times less than the current estimate.

In the Beelu forests where I live in Mundaring, we are constantly vigilant for illegal activity. On a regular basis—every few weeks or so—we do see the signs of illegal harvesting of wood, and on a commercial scale. These criminals leave complete devastation in the forest area, because they don't choose trees selectively. This is not an operation that's done with science in mind; they just clear fell everything that's within easy reach, which means there aren't sufficient seeds from other trees to enable regeneration and growth in that forest area. We just end up with leaf litter loss, and it exposes the very hard, gravel soil which is hard for anything else to grow in. We lose the moisture and we lose the habitat for our little tiny species and soil microbes, as well as, obviously, birdlife and other flora and fauna.

Enforcement is primarily a matter for the state and local authorities, but the amendments in this bill, which direct a greater responsibility for traders and retailers, are also going to help. Forestry practice has, from time to time, failed to comply strictly with its legislation, in a number of cases making it easily arguable whether illegal logging has occurred. Those local issues, though, pale into insignificance when we consider the industrial scale of illegal operations in some countries. For example, a report in 2017 described illegal logging in national parks in Cambodia which saw logs transported to Vietnam before being processed there for sale and export. That was in a year when Australia imported $300 million worth of wood from Vietnam. It's important to realise the multinational nature of this problem. If wood is sourced illegally in one country then it may be sold to a third country for processing and even to a manufacturer of furniture and other end products before importation into Australia. We import over a billion dollars worth of wooden or partly-wooden furniture from China each year—some of it, apparently, designed in Sweden.

East Asia has some of the highest deforestation rates in the world, and a number of countries have been identified of being at particular risk for illegal logging. Members may be surprised to learn that New Guinea is the largest exporter of wood in the Pacific, with 3.3 million tonnes exported in 2019, and that New Guinea and the Solomons provide China with virtually all its tropical timber products. The report titled Calculated risk: Australia's exposure to illegal logging by the Washington and Geneva based Environmental Investigation Agency notes that Chinese-produced plywood is inherently at risk of containing illegal timber and that such risks are greatly increased when plywood is produced from tropical timber.

Deforestation has a significant impact on wildfire risk in tropical forests by increasing susceptibility of forests to fire by decreasing precipitation and causing fragmentation in forest coverage. This allows for increased ventilation, sunlight and drying. It also brings warmer temperatures and then the growth of vegetation susceptible to fire. Fire is often used as a deforestation tool, further creating risk, and tropical forests are not well adapted to fire. This can lead to significant biodiversity loss or, as we saw in Hawaii, devastation at a scale that I don't think we have seen for quite some time.

There are also serious problems with illegal logging and deforestation in some countries in Africa and South America. So our laws need to be sufficiently robust to deal with the realities of this trade. In parallel, we need to ensure that regulations made under free trade agreements do not hamper our efforts, or the efforts of other countries, to stamp out the illegal trade.

In Australia, we have been active for over a decade in combating illegal logging and promoting sustainable forestry, both domestically and internationally. One of the key measures in this regard is the Illegal Logging Prohibition Act 2012. This legislation aims to prevent illegally logged timber and timber products from being imported into Australia. It requires Australian importers of timber products to undertake due diligence to ensure that the timber that they are importing has in fact been legally harvested. This due diligence involves gathering information about the timber's origin, species and compliance with relevant laws and regulations, and, of course, importers must also keep records of their due diligence processes. The act applies to a wide range of timber products, including sawn timber, wood panels, pulp and paper. It covers both raw timber and processed products. Importers who fail to comply with the requirements of the act do face penalties.

In addition to having the Illegal Logging Prohibition Act 2012, Australia is also involved in international efforts to combat illegal logging. For example, Australia is a member of the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade initiative, which aims to address illegal logging through measures such as improved forest governance and the implementation of timber legality assurance schemes.

The prohibition act has had a positive effect on Australia's timber industry and its efforts to combat illegal logging. The act has also raised awareness among Australian importers and consumers about the issues of illegal logging and the importance of sourcing timber products from legal and sustainable sources. Importers are now more aware of their responsibilities to ensure that the timber they import complies with the law. This has led to improved due diligence practices within the timber industry, with importers implementing procedures to gather information about the origin and legality of the timber that they are importing. Some countries, too, have regulations in place that require importers to attest to the legality of the timber products from any country that does not have illegal logging laws in place. Australia avoids these extra processes and costs as a result of our legislative regime, and our products enjoy a strong, positive reputation worldwide.

When the current act was brought into being in 2012, Australia was one of the few countries taking action in this field. The review of the act by the department in 2018 noted that the 2012 act had been used as a legislative model for other jurisdictions and that it contributed to the global effort to eradicate illegal logging. We have nevertheless since been overtaken in our legislation by the many countries that have followed suit. For example, in 2021 the UK government passed their environment act, which required businesses to be able to demonstrate that they have not merely due diligence but a due diligence system in place, which is what this bill does. The five-year statutory review of the act in 2018 identified opportunities to strengthen the act. These included providing clarity on the types of activities captured, increasing the reach of the laws by broadening the conduct and the products regulated under the act, providing the department with more tools and greater flexibility in undertaking compliance activities, and facilitating the department's efficient administration of the act. This bill covers those suggestions and brings our legislation more into line with international best practice.

Importers are aware that they have responsibilities in this trade. Last year, in March, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry fined 14 furniture importers just over $13,000 each for failures to minimise the risk of importing illegally imported timber.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 16:38 to 17:02

As I was saying, I commend officers of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry for their important and sometimes difficult work in enforcement action. The head of the Compliance and Enforcement Division, Peter Timson, is quoted as stating that still, in 2023, up to 10 per cent of timber products entering Australia could be illegally sourced. He emphasised that timber products coming from one country were sometimes manufactured with illegal timber sourced from a third country. In some cases where we're talking about a large company or turnover, I can imagine that a fine of that size would not be much of a disincentive. Two things that this bill does, though, is to increase the range of offences and that quantum of fines. It also allows the department to name and shame individuals or companies that fail to observe the law. The seriousness of the issue must be matched by the seriousness of our legislative response.

Over time, this bill will see importers much less willing to run foul of the intent of the law. The review of the regulations in 2022 noted that a pilot testing program by the department in 2020 found that up to 40 per cent of products in Australia which were made from imported timber might be misrepresented as to species and origin. Science will be used increasingly to assist in determining whether wood or wood products have originated from illegal operations, and whether the due diligence systems of importers are sturdy and robust. Chloroplast DNA and simple sequence repeat databases are now starting to be used as tracking tools to determine the more exact origin of timber species. For example, the Forest Research Institute Malaysia has comprehensive DNA profile databases for at least five of their important timber species.

In truth, we have enough of a threat to our forests with climate change, and we cannot allow further threats to continue when they can be quelled. The south-west of this country, where Hasluck lies, is experiencing decades of drying due to global warming. The effects of this on our forests near Perth and in the south-west corner are already evident. They're extremely evident on my own property, as even trees that are close to water bodies are simply struggling to survive. I live in the forest and I see these changes. I have beehives, so I can see the micro-effects of what's happening among our forests. The impact of any further deforestation will be compelling. The Bureau of Meteorology statistics confirm the bad news. Our forests are one of the bulwarks we depend upon against even greater ravages of climate change than that which is already inevitable, and we cannot allow them to deteriorate or fail.

This bill is a necessary step. Whether it will be sufficient will be a matter for further serious review, taken seriously, and I hope to be here to help undertake that on behalf of Hasluck. I hear sometimes a refrain that we should not unduly burden business. The department predicts savings in regulatory costs in these changes. In any event, here we face criminal activity and environmental degradation in a climate crisis. We cannot benefit from those activities and cannot look away as legislators. This bill updates the offence and penalty regime, creates additional compliance and enforcement mechanisms, requires a due-diligence system to be in place, and allows for injunctions and enforceable undertakings, and by so doing, implements recommendations of the statutory review from 2018 and the review of the regulations, completed in 2022.

I know that some previous members on the other side of the House were somewhat lukewarm towards this legislation when it was first enacted in 2012. I hope to see more support for ending illegal logging and protecting our forests from those opposite after the passing of 12 further years. I commend the bill and congratulate the minister on his work.

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