Bill Heffernan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation, Senator Abetz. Is the minister aware of the New South Wales government’s new draft code of practice for private native forestry? What effect will this new code have on the timber industry and timber jobs in New South Wales? Further, is the minister aware of any alternative policies? And when is it likely to rain in the bush?

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If there is not sufficient time for the last question, I invite Senator Heffernan to ask a supplementary! I acknowledge Senator Heffernan’s longstanding interest in farming and forestry issues. I am aware of the draft code to which the honourable senator refers, and I sincerely hope that this is a draft which does not see the light of day in terms of becoming an actual policy. Simply put, this draft code of practice for forestry on private land is nothing more than an attempt to gain the New South Wales Labor government Greens preferences in some Sydney electorates in the lead-up to the next state election.

Everybody has an interest in ensuring that the available timber resource is harvested on a sustainable basis. This is what the regional forest agreements were all about: ensuring a secure resource, a sustainable resource base and a comprehensive, adequate and representative reserve system. There is simply no need to force private landowners to add to this reserve system. This over-the-top draft code of practice will decimate the New South Wales timber industry, which has already suffered round after round of resource cuts under the New South Wales Labor government. Sixty-six per cent—two-thirds—of hardwood sawmills on the New South Wales North Coast are entirely dependent on timber from private property. The implications for reduced resource supply are significant. The most significant impact will be on jobs in rural and regional New South Wales. In fact, the Forest Products Association of New South Wales estimates that up to 1,500 jobs could be lost as a result of state Labor’s proposal.

It seems there is no end to the capacity of state Labor governments to do all they can to destroy our country’s timber industry. In Victoria, the Bracks Labor government have locked up the Grampians, the Otways and the Wombat State Forest. Now they are flirting with locking up East Gippsland in exchange for Greens preferences. In Tasmania, the supposed friend of the timber industry Mr Lennon sold his soul and locked up Recherche Bay to appease the Greens just before the last state election. In Queensland, the western hardwood resource has just been locked up. With an election campaign now on, I fear other valuable resources in that state may also be locked up.

John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Faulkner interjecting—

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Faulkner interjects. The man who advised Mr Latham ought to keep his mouth shut.

In New South Wales, with virtually all of the timber resource on public land locked up, the Labor government has now moved to do the same to forests on private land. I remind the Senate that for every hectare of resource locked up in Australia there will be increased demand for timber resource from the Amazon and from other tropical hardwood forests around the world. Harvesting our natural resources is all about balance. Balance is a term that those over on the other side never understand. But balance is something that the Howard government understand, as we showed with the Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement, so overwhelmingly endorsed by the people of Tasmania and the rest of Australia. There is also balance in our marine protected areas. I urge New South Wales Labor to follow our lead in restoring balance to the timber industry in that state. (Time expired)