Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

The Greens are opposed to the building of any new pulp mill in Tasmania, as they are opposed to any value-adding proposal. Apparently, they are happier to have polluting mills in Japan and the offshoring of jobs to Japan rather than having the jobs in Australia. Just listen to some of the outlandish claims they have made about the proposed pulp mill in their submission to the RPDC—cosigned, I might add, by Senator Milne. I thought we had gone to the extreme when we heard their diatribe about the Exclusive Brethren, but they have now descended to an even lower level of silliness. Just listen to some of these objections to the pulp mill: ‘The pulp mill will turn north-east Tasmania into a desert.’ What about Canada? What about Finland? What about Japan? All these countries have a number of pulp mills. Are they deserts? No, they are not. So why would north-east Tasmania all of a sudden be turned into a desert?

Then we are told: ‘It will melt the New Zealand ski fields and cause New Zealand to sue us.’ Where are the ice caps in Japan, Canada and Finland? Guess what, they are still all there—and, despite having pulp mills, two of those countries have hosted Winter Olympics. The only thing that might melt the ice caps in New Zealand are the westerly winds from Tasmania that blow the hot air from the Greens over there. The pulp mill is going to kill 50 people per year! It is going to cause an increase in interest rates, and inflation will rise! And get a load of this: it is even going to lead to an increase in violence, sex industry offences, child prostitution and police corruption! If you do not know why you oppose something, just grab everything, pull it all together and regurgitate it as an objection! (Time expired)