Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Colbeck for his ill-informed question. The intergovernmental agreement is a very important agreement. That is why we have Professor Jonathan West going through the verification process. That is why the signatories came together by themselves to look at how they can ensure forestry in Tasmania will continue. We will continue to have plantations. We will continue to have conservation in high-value forests. We will continue to have native forests in public hands that will be protected. All of this is well in front of where the opposition have ever landed in relation to ensuring that this process can be maintained and continued.