Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, Senator Canavan. This week we saw the Turnbull government's attempt, via Deputy Prime Minister Joyce, to interfere in forest issues in Victoria and push for the release of more timber to the Heyfield mill. It is timber that simply is not there, because current native forest log supply volumes are commercially unviable, and Victorian government estimates show that the rate of logging that the mill is requesting would mean that the forest could be logged out in just a few years. Given that there is no long-term future in native forest logging, when will this government stop presiding over the inevitable collapse in jobs and in the critically endangered mountain ash ecosystem and actually plan for a transition to long-term security through sustainable plantations for Australia's timber and wood fibre needs?

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for her question. We make no secret of our desire to protect the jobs of hardworking people in this country. There are about 260 people who rely on the Heyfield mill for their jobs, and we in the National Party and the Liberal Party are going to stand up for their jobs. That is our job. That is why we are here. I do not know what the job of the Greens senators is in this place, but our job is trying to protect people's jobs, and that is what we will do.

Regarding the senator's question, there is a sustainable process to manage forestry in this country. It is called the regional forest agreements. When the Victorian government came to power they reduced the amount of area that Australian Sustainable Hardwoods could log from 155,000 cubic metres to 80,000 cubic metres. I am advised that they have further reduced that to 60,000 cubic metres for the next two years. That is what has put pressure on Australian Sustainable Hardwoods and put at risk these 260 jobs.

This week, the Deputy Prime Minister wrote to the Premier of Victoria asking him to work with the government on ways we could provide more forestry area to keep the mill open, to keep these jobs alive and to allow these people to continue to provide for their families in an environmentally sustainable way. The Deputy Prime Minister has suggested that some of the future years' logging areas could be brought forward so that we can at least help provide for production now. He has also suggested that we should look at elements of the informal reserve system on production forest land, which could be swapped for the many thousands of hectares of new buffer zone exclusions around colonies that have been introduced since—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Pause the clock. Senator Rice, a point of order?

Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, I have a point of order. Minister Canavan, my question was: when will the government actually look at transitioning to sustainable long-term jobs through transitioning the industry to sustainable plantations?

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Rice, the minister has been directly answering that part of your question. The minister is in order.

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am happy to go directly to that again. We believe that jobs in the timber industry are sustainable. That is our position. I know the Greens may have a different view, but we absolutely defend the right of workers in our forestry industry to pursue their careers in a sustainable way. We have a sustainable process developed here. We think we could suggest other ways of managing this process to keep these jobs alive, and that is what we are hard at work trying to do.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Rice, a supplementary question.

Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In terms of jobs and wood production, 85 per cent of our wood production is already coming from plantations, so why won't the government end the forest wars and start planning for sustainable plantations that are able to provide 100 per cent of our wood production? History tells us that we have been smart enough to eventually recognise when destructive industries like sealing and whaling have no future. When will this government wake up and see that trashing our native forests should, like those pursuits, be consigned to the dustbin of history?

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am a little confused because I remember when the Greens were out there campaigning for a long time that old-growth forests should not be harvested. I am advised that no old-growth forests are logged for the Heyfield mill. It has always been the case that as soon as the Greens achieve one objective, like old-growth forests, they then go to the next one, saying, 'We can't have plantation forests.' Apparently, we can import all our timber from overseas—which is what we largely do at the moment—but we are not allowed to touch our own forests as well. I think we have a responsibility to sustainably harvest our forests so as to provide jobs and also to provide the goods and services that we all rely on in the modern economy that the Greens use. We can do that because we do not use old-growth forests in this region. I am also advised that the biggest threat to the Leadbeater's possum and possums in the region is bushfires, not the forestry industry, and responsible logging can help deal with that issue as well. Senator Rice, you need to have a more balanced approach to this whole issue than your ideological objective of putting people out of work.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Rice, a final supplementary question.

Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Native forest logging destroys long-term jobs in tourism, wrecking the star attraction of intact natural forest. What does the minister say to the tourism operators in Victoria's central highlands or in Tasmania's Tarkine region whose livelihoods depend on our native forests remaining intact and on the clean green brand of those areas not being trashed by native forest clear-felling?

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government's firm view is that we can have a sustainable forestry industry in this country. We can have a sustainable tourism industry in this country. We can have a sustainable manufacturing industry in this country. We can have lots of different things in this country and manage them sensibly so that we can have a diverse range of jobs for Australian people. That has been proven in many areas, and I think we do a much better job of managing our own environment and our own forests than do many countries around the world. We should be proud of that and, indeed, we should be using those principles and practices to supply the products and services we need. Australians are not going to consume less furniture or less wood. What they will do is bring them in from other countries that do not necessarily share our practice. So the Greens want to export all the problems to other parts of the world because they view that it is out of sight and out of mind and we do not have to deal with it. We prefer to do the hard job of sustainably dealing with these issues and protecting jobs at the same time.