Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present a supplementary explanatory memorandum to the bill and ask leave of the House to move government amendments (1) to (9), as circulated, together.

Leave granted.

by leave—I move:

(1)   Clause 8, page 7 (line 8), after “prescribed”, insert “as exempt”.

(2)   Clause 9, page 7 (line 17), after “prescribed”, insert “as exempt”.

(3)   Clause 12, page 9 (line 7), at the end of the clause, add:

  ; and (d)   the thing is not prescribed as exempt by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph.

(4)   Clause 13, page 9 (line 16), at the end of the clause, add:

  ; and (d)   the thing is not prescribed as exempt by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph.

(5)   Clause 15, page 11 (line 21), after “prescribed”, insert “as exempt”.

(6)   Clause 15, page 11 (line 23), after “prescribed”, insert “as exempt”.

(7)   Clause 15, page 11 (line 24), at the end of subclause (1), add:

  ; and (f)   the raw log is not of a kind prescribed as exempt by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph.

(8)   Clause 17, page 13 (line 20), at the end of subclause (1), add:

  ; and (d)   the raw log is not of a kind prescribed as exempt by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph.

(9)   Clause 18, page 14 (line 24), after “industry”, insert “or certifying”.

The government is proposing a small number of minor drafting amendments to ensure clarity and consistency in the bill. These amendments do not affect the policy intent or objective of the bill but are necessary to ensure that clauses in the bill are interpreted correctly once it becomes law. The purpose of the proposed amendments is to provide clarity on how timber products can be exempt from the prohibitions in clauses 8, 9, 12, 13, 15 and 17 and to ensure that such exemption provisions are consistent throughout the bill.

The proposed amendments also rectify a drafting inconsistency in the due diligence requirements for processors of domestic logs in clause 18 to make them consistent with the due diligence requirements for importers of regulated timber products in clause 14.

Question agreed to.

John Cobb (Calare, National Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Food Security) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move opposition amendment:

(1)   Clause 2, page 1 (line 8) to page 2 (line 9), omit the clause, substitute:

2 Commencement

     This Act commences on 1 July 2015.

It is not reasonable for the government to bring the measures in the bill into law without giving our trading partners and our domestic timber industry and timber importers the time they were promised to design and implement appropriate systems. As a result of the government's incompetence, I am forced to move an amendment. There has been a lack of consultation with our trading partners and domestic industry. This amendment will delay the commencement date of the legislation and regulation-making power to 1 July 2015. The additional time is needed to satisfy the concern of six of Australia's major timber trading partners—particularly Indonesia, which is our biggest, nearest and most important neighbour—about the subordinate regulations not being available now, at the time that the legislation is being debated, in order to allow sufficient time for scrutiny of the regulations before they take effect by either the parliament or the parties I mentioned previously. Our trading partners have not been given sufficient time to implement systems to allow traceability and achieve compliance within the regulations and legislation. Australian importers have not been given sufficient time to design and implement processes on traceability and demonstrate due diligence.

I cannot emphasise enough—particularly given recent events with Indonesia, apart from anybody else—the importance of our managing the transition envisaged in the legislation through working closely with our trading partners. The government plans to impose the consequences of this legislation pretty arrogantly on our trading partners in the same way as they imposed the live export ban on Indonesia without adequate—or, indeed, any—consultation. It is important to note that the current timber certification programs do not yet provide due diligence elements in their traceability certifications. Current systems simply cannot be put in place to meet the requirements of the legislation and regulations at this time.

Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I mentioned earlier—and as is well known publicly—the coalition promised the Australian electorate that they would implement legislation to prohibit the trade and processing of illegally harvested timber and timber products. Now they are being given the opportunity to join with us in a bipartisan fashion to implement one of their own policies. But, having been given that opportunity, they—on very hollow and shallow grounds—have moved an amendment to delay the commencement of the legislation by some three years. The trade in illegally logged materials would continue if the coalition's amendment were accepted.

We will not accept this amendment. Using estimates published by, for example, the World Bank a further 2,365 square kilometres of forest will be harvested illegally with the approval of the Australian parliament if we agree to this amendment—nearly 2,500 square kilometres of forest wiped out, illegally logged. Looking at the data in the explanatory memorandum for the bill, the coalition's amendments will give the green light to a further $180 billion—

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 43. The debate may be resumed at a later hour.