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

In responding very briefly, I simply refer people to the Senate committee majority report as to why it is not necessary to have this extra layer of bureaucracy and extra layer of cost that Senator O’Brien is suggesting. In relation to the alleged delay of this legislation, I simply say that as a government we always want to consult and get it right, rather than rush it. As Senator Ian Macdonald so ably pointed out, there was a lot of consultation that took place, and we now have overwhelming support of the industry sector in relation to this legislation.

In relation to the media release that I issued on the Sunday afternoon of the national conference of the Labor Party—just in case anybody thinks there is a point in it, and I do not think there is—I was over in Western Australia attending the conference of Timber Communities Australia. I had my media person with me there and, as he always does, he put out a very good media release and issued it to the media immediately—rather than going through the department and asking people to come into their offices et cetera, when we were able to do it by remote control from Perth. The fact that it was not put onto my ministerial website is a matter for which I have chastised my very capable media adviser, because we stand by our media releases. I also thanked Senator O’Brien during Senate estimates for pointing out this oversight to me. The media release was expeditiously put on my ministerial website, so nobody should be under any illusion that there was something about it that I did not want displayed on the ministerial website.

I turn to the targets that Senator O’Brien referred to in relation to percentages of particular forest types. This is what the Labor Party continually does: what they say is the truth, but it is only half the truth. It is what they do not say that is the material point in these debates. Sure, in setting up the regional forest agreements we had aspirational targets which were set out and signed off on. The only thing that Senator O’Brien talked about at Senate estimates, and again here today in this chamber, was the aspirations in relation to locking up. A very important part of the regional forest agreements was conservation, not only of the environment but of people’s jobs and local, regional communities. That is where you have to strike a balance. After many years of fighting and dispute within the Tasmanian community, we came up with a balance at the last election, which the people of Tasmania overwhelmingly signed off on.

I led the Liberal Party Senate ticket in Tasmania. Senator Kerry O’Brien led the Labor Party’s Senate ticket. Whilst undoubtedly each of us has a degree of personal following and other considerations, there is no doubt that the overwhelming support that I received for the ticket that I had the honour of leading was as a result of our balanced policy. As a result of the balanced policy that we submitted to the people of Tasmania, the Prime Minister has said, ‘No more lock-ups in Tasmania.’ I, honoured to be forestry minister, have also said that the government’s position is to have no further lock-ups in Tasmania because, having done all the equations for that agreement, we know that any more lock-ups would have meant loss of jobs.

Mr Rudd, we are told by Senator O’Brien, is fully committed to the Tasmanian community forest agreement. Why won’t he tell the people of Tasmania that if he is elected Prime Minister there will be no further lock-ups? Why won’t Senator O’Brien, the shadow minister for forestry, tell his own electorate of Tasmania that if he were to become forestry minister there would be no further lock-ups because a good sensible balance was achieved only two years ago? The reason is that they have done this deal in New South Wales to get Greens preferences, prior to the people of Australia being told what the Labor Party’s forest policy is. I think we can have a fair guess what it is if the Greens are willing to sign on to the Labor Party before even knowing what the publicly announced policy is.

That is why Mr Rudd and Senator O’Brien cannot tell us, and why Mr Garrett will not come to Tasmania, as he promised. He must be having a lot of bad hair days if he cannot come to Tasmania for this period of six months.