Gavin Pearce (Braddon, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health, Aged Care and Indigenous Health Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Forestry is an industry that's great for the economy, for jobs and for our habitat. But this vital industry is under imminent threat. The recent decision by the Victorian government to accelerate the cessation of selective and sustainable native forest harvesting is making the broader industry extremely nervous, and the motivation appears to be nothing more than waving the white flag to militant environmentalists. There is no doubt the forestry industry challenges are complex but they will not be solved if we have a max exodus of our forestry management specialists with their experience, knowledge and equipment. Ongoing effective management of our forestry is crucial.

A coordinated national plan is urgently required. Stopping native forestry in one state only to import it from another isn't a plan. Our dependence on imported product is growing while our sovereign capability simultaneously shrinks. Adding significantly to our $5.5 billion of imports coming predominantly from developing nations with lesser environmental standards is simply not a solution. This will neither preserve Australian forests nor halt the global deforestation issue. It is easy to become entrapped in the emotional rhetoric of militant environmentalists. Older Tasmanians will remember the devastation of the Labor-Green Tasmania forest agreement called 'the peace deal'. This deal that they cut saw two out of three forestry jobs lost and saw regional towns decimated.

These are the facts of the Tasmanian world-class forestry. Tasmania has a total land mass of approximately 6.81 million hectares. Nearly half of that—3.35 million hectares—is 49 per cent forested. Native forestry makes up 91 per cent of this, and plantations just nine per cent. Fifty-three per cent of all Tasmanian forests and 58.2 per cent of Tasmanian native forests are in protected reserves. This includes 87 per cent of Tasmania's old-growth forests. They are diverse in their nature. They provide habitat and plants for animals. They offer recreation spaces, produce essential forestry products and provide employment opportunities that sustain regional communities.

Tasmania has one of the highest percentages of protected forests of any jurisdiction of its size in the world. Ninety-nine per cent of Tasmania's high-quality wilderness areas on public land are protected. Eighty-five per cent of our old-growth forests are protected. Native forestry in Tasmania is sustainable. It provides timber to build our houses—we talked about it earlier—and fibre for plastic free furniture, and is the lifeblood of local communities.