Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I want to seek some clarity from the minister. I heard him say earlier that the pulp mill was going to be assessed by the minister, that it was a controlled action and that the species in forests that will be fed to the pulp mill will be under assessment. But I understand, looking at the transitional provisions, that this legislation will apply retrospectively so that the pulp mill will in fact be exempted. So I would like absolute clarity on whether these retrospective provisions are going to exempt the pulp mill. Secondly, the RPDC assessment in Tasmania specifically excludes the assessment of the forests and there were complete lies told by Gunns in relation to the forests. They said initially that is was going to be plantation based but now it is to be native forest based, and they want access to native forest for 30 years for this pulp mill. Thirty years: that is a minimum of 2½ million tonnes a year for 30 years out of native forests in Tasmania.

I would like the minister to tell the House whether the transitional provisions in this legislation will be retrospectively applied to the pulp mill. Secondly, will he spell out to the House the process by which he as the federal minister is going to assess the environmental impacts of the feedstock to the pulp mill? How is he going to assess it? What is the process?