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

The issue of the needless destruction of forests and their wildlife, against the rights of future generations and against the rights of our fellow species on this planet, is an emotional one, and I make no apology for the emotional component. We are human beings. Let me go a little further, because it needs to be said every now and then. The forests are the cradle of our own species. We are made from our ancestry in forests. We put pictures on our walls because we respond to the beauty of forests as we see it. We do not put up pictures of chainsaws and bulldozers; we put up pictures of wildlife and beautiful vistas of forests—not clear-fell areas but forests.

What I see when I go to south-east New South Wales, to Gippsland and to the Central Highlands of Victoria—and of course in Tasmania—are areas that were beautiful forests last year but devastated this year, and with them the wildlife. Senators want to discuss the economic advantages of burning forests in forest furnaces, which we know cannot compete unless this legislation gets through, for one simple reason: those promoting these forest furnaces want to depend on the outrageous and blatant lie, given legislative cover under the government’s proposals now before the Senate, that it will be green energy. That is what it is about.

We have argued in this Senate for many, many years against the existing legislation and now through this legislation the continuance of that lie that energy coming out of forest furnaces is no different to wind energy, solar power, wave energy or whatever the renewable source will be. It is not renewable energy. This is not renewing of native forests. It is destructive energy. It is destruction of native forests.

Senator Milne has brought in a ‘clear the air’ proposal that says that you cannot burn native forests and call that green energy, and every single member of the old parties yet again—not for the first time—will vote for this proposal to continue the destruction of Australia’s wild forests, this time through forest furnaces under the lie that it will be green energy coming out of it. Senator Wong protests about that. Well, it is her legislation; it is her doing. It is eyes wide open. Senator Milne has brought in the clarifying amendments, and I suspect—well, I know—that every Labor member of this place and every Liberal member of this place and every National Party member of this place will vote for that lie, will vote for that deception and will vote for that destruction.

If I am emotional about that it is because I am a human being—like every other person in this place. What I do not understand is why this is happening in this wealthy country, where we have two million hectares of plantations—which is more than enough to meet all our wood needs. Senator Colbeck may have been fed stuff from NAFI. It does not make any difference; that is the reality. We do not need to continue this destruction of an heirloom that belongs to this country.

If you want to further look at the economics of this, there is a forthcoming United Nations report, due in October. It is International Year of Biodiversity, and the topic here is biodiversity—burning biodiversity and calling it green energy. The fact is that the loss of biodiversity around the planet is going to hit the global economy by the end of this century to the detriment of that economy of US$3 to US$4 trillion per annum through loss of plant and animal diversity. I will repeat that: US$3 to US$4 trillion per annum. Who is factoring that into this forest furnace proposal? What they want here is public subsidy to give us a massive economic detriment to pass on to our grandchildren.

If you insist we be unemotional and non-human in here and not care about biodiversity and not care about our wild forests in this country, I do not care what Finland or Sweden—which have lost most of their native forests—or Russia, Cameroon, Indonesia, Brazil or anywhere else is doing in this regard. This is this nation’s heirloom. And I do not care about Senator Colbeck saying that there is a statement at the start of a question put to Australians—which there normally is in opinion polls. He should ring his pollster and find out how they put opinion polls. That opinion poll question is available freely—it has been released to the media. It is a genuine poll. If there is some other poll that shows an alternative result, let Senator Colbeck produce it. He cannot, because there is not one—because the Australian people feel very strongly about this matter. Will it be an election issue? Of course it will be. It has to be. We are talking about the nation’s future here. We can do better with our heritage than be shovelling it into furnaces and under legislation like this, coming from the logging industry—through the big parties—giving a legal imprimatur to the lie that it will be green energy when it is not.

Senator Milne has brought forward amendments which we as the guardians of this nation’s future should be flocking to support. I find it extraordinarily remiss that these amendments will not get the support that they should get in this Senate. But that is why we here. That is why we Greens are in this place.