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

Thanks, Senator Babet. Your question goes to one of the other reasons that we need to have a sustainable forestry industry, and that is the role that our foresters play in ensuring that forests are maintained in a way that reduces bushfire risk. That's, of course, a very real risk, as we enter this summer, in many parts of the country. The work that our foresters do to maintain those forests and preserve bushfire trails and all sort of other things in our forests is critical work to make sure that we prevent that bushfire risk. Again, if we were to proceed down the path that some are calling for in immediately locking up forests in a way that wouldn't allow for that kind of forest management activity, that would present a risk of increasing the risk of bushfires, something that we need to take seriously. That's why these matters are not simple matters. They don't work simply as the bumper sticker slogans that some are fond of using. We need to actually approach the issues carefully and in a considered manner, and that's what we're doing.