Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. I can report to the Senate that, on the advice that I have received, Forestry Tasmania is not undertaking new harvesting in the Florentine Valley. The road is simply to provide access to possible coups for selective harvesting sometime in the future. The road itself has been approved by the state’s Forest Practices Authority and will not endanger any surrounding World Heritage values. The government has always believed that it was possible to have the best of both worlds in our forests, providing jobs while protecting the environment. That is what we achieved in the Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement. Not only are we increasing old growth forest protection in Tasmania to over one million hectares, we are also protecting the vast bulk of the Tarkine and a large proportion of the Styx Valley as well as reducing clearfelling and phasing out clearing of the native forest. The government did not promise to protect all forests in this area because of the need to maintain access to some higher productivity forest for timber production. Nevertheless, the agreement reserved an additional 6,460 hectares of predominantly wet eucalypt forests along the eastern boundary of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area as well as significant areas of rainforest. That is a very significant conservation outcome so I think that Senator Milne has her facts completely wrong, as usual.