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

I invite the minister to comment with regard to the contract that Brickworks, in Victoria, has signed with VicForests. The wood or pellets that go into the furnace—or, more particularly, the kiln—for Brickworks comes from Victorian native forests. The kiln has been converted from gas to burning wood from native forests as a result of a grant that was made by the Abbott government after the 2013 election when the Clean Energy Grants Scheme was abolished by the Prime Minister. Subsequent to the abolition, a grant was made to Brickworks—a pure subsidy to Brickworks—to convert their kiln from gas to native forest. I ask the minister: what is the higher value of the operation in Victoria that has generated the wood that is going to the kiln at Brickworks at the Australian taxpayers' expense, as a gift to one of the biggest donors and supporters of the Liberal Party in the 2013 election?