Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition will be supporting this amendment. This amendment is effectively the same as the amendment moved by the opposition. Labor has been opposed to the burning of native forests for energy, because we see it as neither clean nor renewable. We opposed this in government and we oppose it in opposition. The definition of waste is not what those opposite would have you believe, and that needs to be made very clear. We are not just talking about the bits that are left on the ground after logging. Waste can be large parts of trees and, in some cases, entire trees that are not up to scratch for other uses. We simply do not see a case for its inclusion in the renewable energy target and we will oppose it. We have highlighted that this was never part of the negotiated outcome with the opposition and the government. This is a red herring that has been raised at the eleventh hour by the government, and Labor will not support its inclusion. Therefore, we will support the current amendment being moved.