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

I am still waiting for the government to tell me the difference between mandatory regulations and guidelines and how compliance with these guidelines will be enforced. Further to Senator Joyce’s comments, I am interested to know whether the government did get legal advice from the Attorney-General’s Department or anywhere else. Do you have legal advice on this issue? As this has been an issue since before the 2007 election and for all winter, I just want to know whether the government actually did get legal advice from other departments as well as just this department’s advice.

I really insist on knowing how these guidelines are going to be enforced. Senator Coonan made a big thing out of the fact that she is satisfied that all of these will be applied and that the environment will be cared for. Well, it will not be, because these are just voluntary guidelines that have no effect whatsoever. I want to know how compliance is going to be enforced. I specifically want to know whether you will be able to get a tax deduction if you have cleared land, because the clearing of the land is consistent with the Kyoto provisions—that is, the land had native vegetation on it but was not a Kyoto ‘forest’ in 1990. In a state like Tasmania, where there is no land clearance legislation, will you be able to get a tax deduction using these guidelines because you will be deemed to have complied?