Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

Let me reassure Senator Rice and the Senate that our forests will recover. Through the history of Australia, over thousands and thousands of years, we have experienced bushfires before, and our beautiful continent has regenerated before and very, very strongly.

We have, of course, experienced a devastating bushfire season in this last couple of months—no question; devastating. A whole series of communities across rural and regional Australia, in particular, were terribly impacted. And we have provided significant support and continue to provide significant support, to support those communities with the post-bushfire recovery. As part of our $2 billion bushfire recovery fund, we are also investing in a series of environmental measures to help boost and facilitate that rapid regeneration, both in terms of our fauna and our flora. In terms of the broader issue that Senator Rice raises, of course we are doing everything we can to protect our environment, to help reduce global emissions and to do so in a way that is economically responsible, because we want to ensure that our children and grandchildren in the future can continue to enjoy the beautiful country that is ours but also can continue to pursue opportunities to have a job, to pursue a career, to have a better job and to build a life for themselves and their families into the future. That is what we will continue to do, and we will continue to do it responsibly and with great commitment and dedication.