Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Hansard source

The Illegal Logging Prohibition Amendment (Strengthening Measures to Prevent Illegal Timber Trade) Bill 2024 will modernise and strengthen Australia's illegal logging laws to better protect the Australian market from illegally harvested timber and to support legal and sustainable timber trade. It will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the regulatory framework by strengthening the monitoring, investigation and enforcement powers, including through new timber-testing powers and the use of injunctions and enforceable undertakings.

It will also strengthen requirements concerning due diligence, thereby enhancing our ability to identify patterns of compliance or non-compliance with those requirements and take appropriate enforcement action. These changes complement the work the Australian government is delivering through a $4.4 million investment to improve timber identification testing and illegal logging traceability. I thank the members for their contributions to this debate.

See this speech in context