Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I do not think what you said was quite correct in terms of suggesting we are giving an incentive to knock forests down and then replant. Part 10 in the original bill—it is in the definition section, section 5—requires that as at 31 December 1989 the land stand was clear of trees. This is what is known as a Kyoto forest, I think. That deals with the incentive issue that you raised.

In addition, as a result of the amendments put forward by the government and policy commitments made by the government, we are providing an incentive for credit for regrowth again on land that has already been legally cleared between 1990 and 31 December 2008. There is not a suggestion that people could knock down trees now and then put in place a forest and get a credit. That is a separate policy issue to the policy issue you are putting, which is your party’s policy of opposition to forest management or forestry. I understand that, but that is not the government’s position. The government’s position is to maintain the regional forest agreements and to seek to strike that balance between productive use and conservation use.