Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Hansard source

This is only a personal view—I cannot speak for the coalition—but I am inclined to think that the coalition should support Senator Brown and that we should put this on as a priority and immediately have the debate. I urge my colleagues to seriously consider that—there is such a lot which should be said about the Greens political party and the way they have destroyed a sustainable industry in the state of Tasmania. It was a state that used to have a very good industry. It created a hell of a lot of employment, it attracted tourists there and it was a way of keeping forest fires at bay—the forestry tracks helped ensure that when a fire started it could be put out. What the Greens want you to do is to get rid of all forestry tracks. So when fires start there is no way of putting them out and the fires will then destroy 10 times as many trees as the forestry industry might have ever harvested. So these things I think do need to be debated and it is the Greens-Labor alliance that is proposing that we set aside standing orders and set aside the regular order of business and have this debate now. They seem to think it is urgent and I think it is probably urgent that a lot of Australians listen to a serious debate on the forestry industry.

I would like to challenge the Greens—and hopefully if the debate goes ahead we could do this—on just how many jobs they have lost. I would like to challenge the Greens to tell me how many of these native forest trees have been destroyed by fire over the years as compared with those that have been sustainably harvested by the forestry industry. That is a statistic I would love to know.

I would also like to hear from the Greens why they believe that Australia should import logs that are unsustainably harvested from elsewhere in the world, from places that have real environmental problems, in lieu of harvesting from what was recognised worldwide as one of the best forestry management systems anywhere—Australia, which has a very proud reputation in forestry and in forestry management. We have some magnificent timbers. Have a look around this building, Mr President, and you will see mainly Tasmanian forestry wood. But if the Greens have their way they will shut it down.

Mr President, I can tell you, because I was right at the forefront of this at one period in my career, that the Greens ask for something, you negotiate it, they come back, you stop there, you think that is the end of it and we are over it. But they get that little concession and then—as soon as everyone has gone back to sleep, as soon as peace has settled on it—they start again. And they will keep going until they shut down the whole forestry industry in Tasmania and the forestry industry in Victoria—or what is left of it—and the forestry industry in my state of Queensland–or what is left of it. It is an incremental thing to destroy this country and destroy a very significant industry in this country.

Mr President, I would like very much to have this debate. I am speaking as a private senator and I do not know what arrangements there are for business today. I understood the Labor Party wanted to deal with some bills but their partners, the Greens, think that this motion is far more important. On this occasion—and heaven forbid that I should ever agree with anything that the Greens political party says—I would be inclined to support them. I know my colleagues and those who manage business on this side have other matters to consider and, of course, I will go along with whatever they say. But I certainly hope that sometime we can have this debate and it seems to me that now would be as good a time as any. So, Mr President, to me it is a good idea but I leave it, of course, to those who are in charge of running this place to make the final decision. (Time expired)

Question put:

That the motion (Senator Brown's) be agreed to.

The Senate divided. [13:23]

(The President—Senator Hogg)

Question negatived.