Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

It is really disappointing that we see the Greens using a process that should be utilised to look at the operations of the department and their compliance with their grant guidelines—through now, I see, two audit reports; Senator Milne obviously was not aware of the first one when she drafted her initial motion—to make an attack on the industry. That is what the Greens' tactic usually is: try and denigrate the reputation of the forest industry in Tasmania rather than do what we ought be doing, which is to look at the way that the government and particularly this agency is implementing its grant programs and then complying with the recommendations of audits that come through. This is on a day when Tasmania has become the first Australian state where less than half of all adult men are employed full time and where last week Minister Crean said that the forest industry should die before the dairy industry gets some support. It is an absolute disgrace that we are supporting this motion. (Time expired)