Senate debates
Thursday, 24 November 2011
Motions
Forestry
12:41 pm
John Madigan (Victoria, Democratic Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I move:
That the Senate—
(a) notes that:
(i) at a recent public rally in Hobart, Tasmanian members of the Timber Communities Australia publicly displayed signs calling for the recognition of their cultural heritage,
(ii) the Tasmanian timber communities are among the oldest continuing communities in Australia and derive their identity from the continuing connection to their district, environment and industry which they have developed over generations, and
(iii) the Tasmanian timber communities, as a matter of basic human rights, wish to pass their identity and cultural heritage on to future generations of those communities without government interference;
(b) calls on the Government to withdraw the Tasmanian Forests Intergovernmental Agreement between the Commonwealth of Australia and the State of Tasmania (Australian Labor Party/Australian Greens governments) until such time as the effects the agreement will have on the cultural heritage of the Tasmanian timber communities has been assessed and addressed to the satisfaction of those communities.
I seek leave to make a short statement.
John Madigan (Victoria, Democratic Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
At this time, some of the oldest established communities in our nation are under threat of losing the connection to their environment and the links to those previous generations which form the foundation of their identity and cultural heritage. The idea of cultural heritage is a relatively new one but one that was long overdue. However, I believe it is an idea that needs to be more widely addressed. Members of the Tasmanian timber communities, who are amongst the oldest continuing communities in Australia, have expressed to me their anguish at the impending loss of the connection to their cultural past by an almost forced displacement from the environment with which they identify themselves.
The intergovernmental agreement of the federal and Tasmanian governments is a direct threat to those communities and fails to respect their cultural heritage. The federal and Tasmanian governments should immediately pulled back from their IGA until all these communities are adequately consulted and a level of protection sufficient to address all their concerns relating to their cultural heritage is agreed to. These communities, these people, these Australians deserve to have their cultural heritage celebrated and respected, not ignored and belittled.
12:43 pm
Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Mr President, I seek leave to make a short statement.
Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I just want to respond on this particular motion which is actually calling on the government to withdraw the Tasmanian Forests Intergovernmental Agreement between the Commonwealth of Australia and the State of Tasmania on the basis that a withdrawal of that agreement would in some way guarantee the cultural heritage of Tasmanian timber communities. In fact, it is exactly the other way around because the timber communities actually approached—
Opposition senators interjecting—
Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Mr President, I rise on a point of order. There are interjections coming from—
John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Senator Bob Brown, I was aware of the interjections. I called to order—
Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
the conservatives and they should be called to order. You did quite right there.
Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
As I was saying, the timber communities approached the conservation movement to work out a set of principles, which led to discussions with the state and federal governments to develop an intergovernmental agreement which will deliver substantial funding into rural and regional Tasmania for the kind of transitional assistance that will give those communities some hope of transitioning out of native forest logging. In the absence of that money, those communities are losing jobs and people and are going broke right now. If this agreement is upheld by the federal government to the letter of the law, it will provide some future for those communities. They will have no future unless this federal money assists with retraining and transitioning.Question put:
That the motion ( Senator Madigan's ) be agreed to.
The Senate divided. [12:59]
(The President—Senator Hogg)
Question negatived.