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

by leave—I move amendments (21), (22), (23) and (6) together:

(6) Clause 7, page 6 (after line 1), after the definition of premises, insert:

quarter has the meaning given by subsection 83(5).

(21) Clause 83, page 60 (line 4), omit subclause (1), substitute:

  (1) The Secretary must publish the following information about the operation of this Act:

     (a) an annual compliance audit for each financial year in relation to imported regulated timber products;

     (b) aggregate data reports for each quarter in relation to imported regulated timber products;

     (c) any other report or information prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph.

  (1A) The secretary may publish any other information about the operation of this Act that the Secretary considers relevant.

(22) Clause 83, page 60 (line 5), omit "Subsection (1) does not", substitute "Subsections (1) and (1A) do not".

(23) Clause 83, page 60 (after line 6), at the end of the clause, add:

  (3) An annual compliance audit in relation to imported regulated timber products must include, but is not limited to, information about the following:

     (a) the importers that have been audited;

     (b) the imported regulated timber products that have been audited, including a breakdown by timber species;

     (c) how many importations of such products have been audited, including a breakdown by country of origin;

     (d) the level of risk associated with the products that have been audited;

     (e) the level of accurate information provided on declarations made to the Customs Minister under section 13 relating to the products that have been audited;

     (f) the level of accurate and comprehensive compliance with due diligence requirements for importing regulated timber products for the products that have been audited;

     (g) non identifying information about any investigations that have been undertaken during the financial year in relation to such products;

     (h) non identifying information about the outcome of any investigations completed during the financial year in relation to such products;

     (i) non identifying information about the current status of any investigations that have not been completed by the end of the financial year.

  (4) An aggregate data report for a quarter in relation to imported regulated timber products must include, but is not limited to, information about the following:

     (a) the volume of the products imported in the quarter;

     (b) a breakdown of the products imported in the quarter by:

        (i) product type;

        (ii) timber species;

        (iii) country of origin;

        (iv) country of processing.

  (5) In this section:

quarter means a period of 3 months ending on 30 September, 31 December, 31 March or 30 June.

My series of amendments goes to the issue of enforcement and compliance. The government and the coalition have rejected all the amendments going to sustainability, definition of illegal logging, due diligence, traceability and now even the ability of the community to have standing in the courts. It really does come back to the government to explain how it is going to enforce the law and how it is going to seek compliance with the law, given the rejection of all the amendments which would have given more rigour to the bill.

The effectiveness of this legislation, as with any law, hinges upon its enforcement. Enforcing the act will undoubtedly prove challenging, given the inherent transborder element of the key offence of the bill—that is, the prohibition of the importation of illegal timber products. It is therefore important that the government demonstrate its commitment to enforcement by producing quarterly reports of aggregated data and annual compliance audits. That is the purpose of these amendments. I am seeking from the government an indication of how this is going to essentially be resourced. Is the government going to resource this sufficiently so that we will get quarterly reports of the data and annual compliance audits? Can I have from the minister an indication of that?

I just mentioned a moment ago the challenging nature of inherent transborder elements and, in particular, I want to go to one species, which goes to the issue of DNA testing that I mentioned earlier. There is a particular type of timber known as merbau. It is a tree that is used throughout the region. When I say 'throughout the region', that ranges from Tanzania and Madagascar, east through India and Queensland to the Pacific island of Samoa. It is in the Philippines. It is right throughout the region. Because it is durable and termite resistant, it is a highly valued material for flooring and other uses. It is advertised extensively for decking, for example. As a result, it is being widely overused. Extensive logging of this tree is going on. It is endangered in many places in South-East Asia and almost extinct in others. Extensive amounts of this timber were purchased for the venue of the 2008 summer Olympics in China, which is the largest importer of the wood. As I said, it is used for flooring. It is used in the United States and European markets in spite of the ban on illegally logged timber.

As I said, a lot of this timber is being transported around the region. Greenpeace claims that at the current rate of logging the tree will be wiped out within 35 years. Because it is such a desirable timber in terms of the product, and because it goes across so many borders, it will be one species where it will be very interesting to see how the government goes to the issue of compliance. I would suggest that this is one species where, if the government were open to doing some work in terms of research, investigating the DNA and then using it for testing would be extremely useful. It is very hard to see, given the extensive range of this tree, how we are ever going to get to the point of knowing what country a product that comes into Australia to be used for decking or flooring comes from, let alone whether it was logged illegally or otherwise.

I would ask the government to give some consideration to a research project on this timber. I would also ask the government what level of resourcing it will put into compliance and enforcement with regard to quarterly reports of aggregated data and compliance auditing.