Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Rice. Well, of course I can't comment on that particular issue, having not been given the courtesy of being provided with those documents before the question was asked. But what I can say is that the Albanese government supports a sustainable forestry industry, as I have said on a number of occasions. You well know, Senator Rice, that the forests in Tasmania are managed under joint state and federal regional forestry agreements, and that is the system that has been in place for a very long time. It is underpinned by strong environmental standards, and when those standards are not met then appropriate action is taken for environmental protection reasons.

As I said, I can't comment on the particular issues you've raised, because you haven't raised them with me before. But we do recognise that it's important that we have a forestry industry in Australia that is environmentally sustainable. It's one of the reasons our government went to the election making a significant commitment to expand the forest plantation estate. In fact, as you may be aware, Senator Rice, already about 87 per cent of the logs harvested in Australia are from plantation estates , with the remainder being from native forests. We do think it's important to have strong environmental standards that sit beneath those regional forestry agreements, and that is the position we will continue to take.

You would have seen that in response to the Samuel review Minister Plibersek made the point that the new national environmental standards will apply to RFAs. That position was not just accepted but welcomed by the forestry industry associations in addition to environmental organisations. I think that shows that the Albanese government gets the balance right between ensuring that we can meet our timber needs while also protecting the environment. (Time expired)