Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Muir for his question and for some earlier notice about it. I can confirm that situation. The use of native forest wood for the sole or primary purpose of generating renewable electricity has never been eligible to create certificates under the RET scheme. And that will remain. But as he quite rightly suggests, offcuts, sawdust, tree branches—essentially by-products of forestry projects—are what is used to generate renewable electricity. Indeed, wood waste was included in Labor's original legislation, but they decided to remove it from the scheme in 2011. And I will have a bit more to say about that soon. In a dirty deal done with their Greens colleagues, they preferred to see the wood waste lie on the ground and rot—which, coincidentally, produces more carbon dioxide than if the waste is used for a useful purpose. In 2012, Labor's own Climate Change Authority recommended that wood waste be reinstated as an eligible form of electricity generation.

This government has consistently raised this issue at the negotiating table over the last 12 months. This is not a last-minute addition. It is a matter that the coalition has been discussing for years—indeed, since Labor removed wood waste from the scheme in 2011.