Alan Eggleston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation, Senator Abetz. Will the minister outline to the Senate how the Howard government’s support for Australia’s forestry sector is helping address global carbon dioxide levels? Is the minister aware of any alternative policies?

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

I thank Senator Eggleston for his question and note his keen interest in this matter, especially in his role as the distinguished chair of the Senate’s environment committee. There has unfortunately but not unpredictably been a lot of misinformation floating around about the role our forest industry is playing in reducing CO. Forestry is part of the solution to climate change, not part of the problem. The simple fact is that Australian plantation and native forests are carbon sinks, absorbing 44 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. Our expanding plantation area—some 700,000 hectares in the past years—is increasing the rate of carbon dioxide stored by almost 20 million tonnes per year. That is equivalent to four per cent of current emissions.

But let us start with the basics. In drawing carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and returning oxygen, trees are nature’s air cleaners whilst also supplying legitimate human needs, such as building materials, furniture and paper. Some are claiming that by harvesting trees you are increasing CO emissions. This is just plain wrong. You see, once you start—

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I rise on a point of order. I have on the Notice Paper a notice of motion—it is No. 615—which seeks information about the impact of logging on climate change which, as pointed out in the Stern report, is greater than the impact of transport. I wonder if the minister might be anticipating that motion and whether he will get to the question of logging being a worse factor in greenhouse matters and climate change than all the transport systems of the world put together.

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order, Senator Brown. He is not debating the motion in any event.

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

Thank you, Mr President. The Greens never want the facts getting in the way of their propaganda. As I was saying, once you start value-adding, creating wood and paper products and using excess wood to replace other polluting energy sources, our forests are in fact carbon positive—vastly so, especially when you consider the CO created in the production of wood alternatives such as aluminium, plastics and concrete. The Greens say that the best way to capture CO is to plant trees and leave them until they die of old age. Indeed, yesterday some misinformed protesters erected a blockade in the Weld Valley in Tasmania with a silly sign saying ‘keep the carbon in our forests’. The only problem is, once a forest reaches maturity, at around 100 years of age, it is no longer storing carbon. While parts of the tree are still growing, other parts are actually dying and releasing CO faster.

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on a point of order, Mr President, regarding misleading the Senate. Scientific studies show that old forests store more greenhouse gases—

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! There is no point of order, Senator.

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

than plantations. He must not mislead the Senate.

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order, Senator. Resume your seat.

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

Once again, Mr President, never let the facts get in the way of your propaganda. An old growth forest such as the Weld is in fact a net carbon emitter. It is not a solution to climate change, as the Greens would like us to believe.

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On a point of order, Mr President. The minister is wrong and he must not mislead the Senate.

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! That is not a point of order. Resume your seat.

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let him produce his scientific reasoning. He is wrong.

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Brown, you are bordering on frivolous points of order. If you do this again, I will have to report you to the Senate. Senator Abetz.

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

Don’t get me wrong: I am in favour of limiting carbon emissions, including those from old growth forests and other sources. But compare the Weld to a vigorous young plantation forest absorbing CO as it grows. An average one-hectare blue gum plantation extracts almost 30 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year. For those that seek to raise funds for themselves, this is the genuine inconvenient truth, but it is a fact. And, if you want to be a friend of the environment in today’s world, you need to be a friend of forestry.