Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

The Illegal Logging Prohibition Amendment (Strengthening Measures to Prevent Illegal Timber Trade) Bill 2024 will modernise and strengthen Australia's illegal logging laws to better protect the Australian market from illegally harvested timber and support a legal and sustainable timber trade. It will increase regulatory efficiency and effectiveness by strengthening monitoring, investigation and enforcement powers, including through new timber testing powers and the use of injunctions and enforceable undertakings. It will also enable the provision of key due diligence information up-front, thereby enhancing our ability to use data to identify high-risk timber products and enable appropriate enforcement action to be taken.

Changes proposed by the bill have been informed by a comprehensive public consultation process that sought broad support from industry and non-government organisations for the improvements and by the development of a regulation impact statement published in 2023. These changes complement the work the Australian government is doing through the 2022 election commitment to invest $4.4 million to improve timber identification testing and illegal logging traceability.

The bill has been subject to a Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee inquiry, and I thank everyone who participated in the inquiry as well as the committee for its consideration of the bill. The committee released its report on 20 June 2024, and I will take this opportunity to provide the government response to the report. The report recommended that the bill be passed, and the government welcomes and agrees with this recommendation. The coalition senators' dissenting report recommended that the passage of the bill be deferred until after the finalisation of the rules to be made under the proposed act. The government notes this recommendation but does not agree with it. The rules cannot be finalised until the bill passes the parliament and the rule-making power becomes operative. However, the government is ensuring that the regulated community and other stakeholders have an opportunity to comment on the draft rules before they are finalised. On 19 August this year an exposure draft of the rules was released for public consultation, and the department has held a public webinar to explain key changes. They have received valuable feedback from stakeholders to date.

In relation to the other matters raised in the dissenting report, I note that the strict liability offences and publication powers are increasingly common across Australian legislation, including environmental legislation, as they broaden regulatory options. These are appropriately framed, and I thank the committee for recognising the intentions to utilise these appropriately and sensitively. As stated in the explanatory memorandum to the bill, the proposed new publication powers are intended to be used only when noncompliance is repeated or very serious and when it is considered in the public interest to do so. Such instances may be where a person has been convicted of an offence on several occasions or has repeatedly failed to comply with due diligence requirements without undertaking further checks or adjusting practices. It is not intended that publication would occur for minor instances of noncompliance where publication would not be in the public interest or where noncompliance can be otherwise addressed.

As for concerns raised over the new power to enable testing of timber and regulated timber products, the bill does not impose any requirements on importers or processors to test timber themselves and bear the associated costs. The new timber testing power would be available to Commonwealth officers to utilise under compliance activities and is strictly limited to being exercised only when the timber or regulated timber product is subject to biosecurity control or customs control.

The opposition has previously raised a proposal to exclude domestic timber processors from the application of the laws. I note that it is appropriate to maintain the current situation whereby the illegal logging prohibition legislation applies to both timber importers and processors of raw logs. This ensures that the regulation of illegally logged timber is consistent with Australia's trade law obligations. The opposition has also previously questioned the need to require notices of intention to import a regulated timber product. Changing the operation of key provisions would undermine the intention of the new notice requirement, which is to obtain and use information to better target compliance powers.

Finally, the government notes the committee's comments on the importance of continued stakeholder consultation. As demonstrated by the current consultation process, the government recognises this and is fully committed to ongoing engagement with regulated entities. Recommendations in the RRAT report from the Australian Greens have also been reflected in proposed amendments tabled, which the government notes but does not agree to.

In recommendation 1, corresponding to the amendment on sheet 2643, the Australia Greens recommended that section 18B of the bill be amended to require that import notices include, at a minimum, information on the species and countries of harvest of imported timber. The government does not agree to this recommendation. The government's position is that the timber species and country of harvest would be more appropriately prescribed in the rules, along with other requirements under section 18B of the bill as drafted, and as noted in the explanatory memorandum. It is intended that these matters would be prescribed by the rules once an IT system that would support receiving notices is operational and the regulated community has been consulted.

In recommendation 2, corresponding to the amendments on sheet 2626, the Australian Greens recommended that section 7 of the act be amended to cover further laws that may impact supply chain illegality. The government does not agree with this recommendation because the due diligence requirements already require importers of regulated timber products and processors of raw logs to consider any other information the importer or processor knows indicating illegal logging risk.

In recommendation 3, corresponding to the amendment on sheet 2645, the Australia Greens recommended that the bill be amended to require regular public reporting of the extent of illegal logging in Australia and of the action taken under the act. The government does not support this recommendation, as the act does not directly regulate the act of harvesting timber within Australia. These matters are regulated by state and territory legislation, the reporting of which is not the responsibility of the Commonwealth.

In recommendation 4, corresponding to the amendments on sheet 2646, the Australian Greens recommended that the bill be amended so that the rules may provide that the due diligence obligations can be satisfied by compliance with specific domestic or foreign laws, rules or operational processes as part of the due diligence applications. The government does not agree with this recommendation as the act already provides for this. Consequently the amendments do not add anything and may have unintended consequences for the interpretation of the provisions.

In recommendation 5, corresponding to the amendments on sheet 2647, the Australian Greens recommended that the Senate pass the Ending Native Forest Logging Bill. The government does not agree to this recommendation. The Ending Native Forest Logging Bill has no relevance to, or connection with, this bill.

In recommendation 6, the Australian Greens recommended that the bill be passed by the Senate with amendments in line with the above recommendations. For the reasons already given, the government does not agree to this recommendation, nor does the government agree to further amendments proposed by the Australian Greens.

Regarding amendment sheet 2665, to add prohibitions for further dealings in illegally logged timber, the government notes that the illegal logging prohibition legislation already prohibits illegally logged timber from entering the Australian market by way of importation and the processing of raw logs within Australia. This was informed by extensive work in developing the current illegal logging prohibition legislation. There's no good reason to deviate from this.

Regarding the proposed amendment on sheet 2664, that 'interested persons' be able to apply for injunctions relating to conduct or proposed conduct, the government does not agree to this amendment. Injunctions are available under the Regulatory Powers Act for those who administer and enforce the legislation to restrain contraventions of the legislation or to compel compliance with the legislation. It would not be appropriate or practical to extend these powers to other 'interested persons'.

Regarding the proposed amendment on sheet 2645, that an independent review of the operation of the act be conducted within five years and during each subsequent five-year period, the government does not agree to this recommendation. The government notes that it has already agreed to amendments moved in the House of Representatives to conduct an independent review of the act within five years.

The Australian government remains committed to combating illegal logging and associated trade and its global environmental, social and economic impacts. Illegal logging remains the greatest transborder environmental crime globally and undercuts the prices our domestic forest industries can receive for sustainably produced timber products.

I commend this bill, which will optimise Australia's illegal logging laws to protect our market from illegally harvested timber and illegally logged raw logs, to the Senate.

I also table an addendum to the revised explanatory memorandum relating to the Illegal Logging Prohibition Amendment (Strengthening Measures to Prevent Illegal Timber Trade) Bill 2024. The addendum responds to matters raised by the Scrutiny of Bills Committee.