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

Yes, I can give the honourable senator more figures. That is based on the indication that there would not be any replanting. The simple fact is that forestry is a sustainable cycle. You chop down a tree, you replant it and any carbon that escapes is then drawn back out by the new growing tree. But of course carbon sinks are created when that wood is used for buildings, furniture, paper et cetera. If the Greens are concerned about the few thousand tonnes from south-east New South Wales native forest harvesting, why were they so deathly silent about the 40 million tonnes that escaped into the atmosphere from bushfires in Victoria this summer as a result of the deliberate Greens policy of locking up and forgetting our national parks? The statistics continually speak against the Australian Greens, and they know it. It is about time they took a reality check. The only policy that the Greens seem to have is that you will get rid of greenhouse gases through— (Time expired)