Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—This is a question that the Senate may or may not support, and I think it would be unusual for it not to seek information genuinely required of a government in a year when we are headed to the Copenhagen conference, which is based upon information being available from countries about their greenhouse gas emissions. It has been widely put by scientists that the logging of native forests and woodlands in Australia contributes a phenomenal 20 per cent or so of greenhouse gas emissions from this country, which is one of the greatest polluters on the face of the planet. It is also a fact that the Prime Minister, Mr Rudd, made it clear during the last election campaign that he is, in his own words, 100 per cent behind the logging regime which was brought into place by Prime Minister Howard and, in the case of Tasmania, the then Premier, Paul Lennon, and in the case of Victoria the governments of the late nineties and this decade.

This is simply a question that asks the government to give the Senate information about the logging of which it is so proud so far as greenhouse gas emissions are concerned. It is a very clear question. The information ought to be forthcoming from the Senate. Indeed, were it not available to the Senate, it would indicate that this government is proceeding with studied ignorance about its own policy implementation which is causing a massive amount—in fact, 100 million tonnes plus—of greenhouse gases to unnecessarily pollute the global atmosphere in an age of potential catastrophic climate change.

Question agreed to.