Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Deforestation is a significant contributor to emissions and therefore to climate change. So, avoiding deforestation—in which Australia, sadly, is a world leader—is taking climate action. I expected that the LNP would bring on a motion like this, because they spent the last decade in government in this place doing whatever they could to undermine climate action. But I am surprised that the Labor Party would co-sign and join this motion. I'm not surprised about the timing. We had farmers here yesterday protesting, so the timing of this is no doubt designed to try to give the Labor Party some cover in trying to keep farmers on side.

Let me tell you a little bit about deforestation. Documents obtained by the Wilderness Society by freedom of information revealed that the government was seeking assurances from the EU in relation to its deforestation import regulation and that Australia ought to be considered a low risk for deforestation, because it claims that Australia has a robust environmental law that supports the protection and sustainable use of our forests. Well, Australia's environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has described the environment law as broken and recognised that under these laws deforestation is a significant problem. So, which one is it?

The law is currently going through a supposed reform, and no doubt this is something we are going to be acting on. As the good senator from the government said, the Australian government is also a signatory to a global Glasgow leaders' declaration to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. There is a quote from the Wilderness Society that I really like, from Adele Chasson, Corporate Campaigner for the Wilderness Society:

The government can't seem to keep its story straight on Australia's deforestation problem. The Australian government is telling the world Australia is a global leader on environment issues, all while asking for delays and exemptions to the EU's flagship deforestation regulation. At the same time, they are undertaking a tumultuous environment reform process to, at least in part, tackle a serious and admitted deforestation problem.

Well, we now know that the laws around deforestation aren't going to come before this parliament, and I reckon we'll be bloody lucky if they come before the next parliament, having been in this place for nearly 13 years and having seen how little attention, focus and priority is put on climate action.

So, let's call this out for what it is. This is an attempt, on behalf of a vested interest—the beef industry—who want to have a low carbon footprint. The MLA and others have actually been ahead of the government in their emissions reduction targets, and consumers want to buy zero-carbon beef, as they do in the EU. And good on the EU for having strict regulations. I hope they stick to it. I hope they force Australia to step up and do something about avoiding deforestation and tackling this issue. Maybe then we'll be the world leaders we claim to be in environmental and climate— (Time expired)