Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Sure, Labor supports bipartisanship when there's a plan and Labor supports bipartisanship when there's action. But Labor doesn't support bipartisanship to do nothing, which is what we've seen from this government. This government is great at talking about building and great at talking about planting—in fact, the government promised that it would plant a billion trees in timber plantations. That's what was announced in 2018, but how many trees have been planted? That's my question to the government. They've been in government for eight years, so I ask: since the announcement back in 2018—remember, we're now in 2021—how many of those billion trees have been planted? We're talking about plantation timber. That's what Australians support and what the industry wants: plantation timber. How many trees have been planted to help us with the building construction boom that is going on? Bipartisanship is possible when you actually do something, but you cannot demand Labor sign up to bipartisanship when you do nothing, which is what is we have seen from this government, particularly when it comes to the timber shortage.

What's frustrating is the industry has been warning about the shortage for the good part of a decade, and this government have been here for eight years now but have failed to meet the demands of the industry. In my part of the world, the Bendigo electorate, Woodend in the south, which will become part of McEwen electorate at the next election, is still a timber town. It still is home to timber plantations. They have been supplying the Australian industry for many years. But, like all parts of the urban growth corridor, they are constantly under pressure: will this area be the next area to be developed? I note one of the earlier speakers from the government side is from the area of the Sunshine Coast. Today, when you drive from Maroochydore to Brisbane, more and more of that land, which used to be covered in plantation timber, is being developed for housing. Whilst we welcome development, where are the new trees being planted to keep our supply sustainable going forward? This is a crop, a product, that takes time to grow. It's basic maths: if you don't plant the trees now—or five years ago, when you first said you would—we will run into a shortage.

The government, because of its short-sighted politics, has created of its own doing the crisis we're experiencing today. They ignored the calls years ago to put the trees into the ground and then they introduced policies to speed up construction, which has created the bottleneck that we are experiencing now in the industry and the exorbitant prices that people are now paying. The COVID pandemic was already going to cause an explosion in demand for building products, and that's what we're experiencing. Globally, as has been highlighted, there is a shortage of timber as people have moved towards using this sustainable material. There are policies that are being put in place by governments and local authorities all over the world that preference timber as opposed to other carbon based building products. We've seen that, for example, in California and throughout Europe, so we knew that there would be a supply shortage, which was exacerbated by COVID as more and more Australians stayed home, looked to renovate their homes and looked to build. Then the government introduced the HomeBuilder program, which sped up residential construction and led to greater demand.

The industry is now saying that there are delays of six to 12 months. Prices have gone through the roof. Due to its short-sightedness, the government did not ensure that we would have the building supplies needed to deliver the HomeBuilder program. It is crazy that the government is still stalling in this area, which is why I welcome the motion that's been put forward by the member for Eden-Monaro.

Whether you're a builder in a regional town like Bendigo, whether you're a supplier like Hume & Iser in my part of the world or whether you're one of the many other hardware stores around Australia, you know this issue is real. Whether you're a renovator or whether you're somebody trying to get the work done yourself, you know we have a timber shortage. The government needs to act. We need national leadership to make sure that this timber shortage isn't prolonged over the next few decades. We've got to get the trees into the ground. We've got to get the policy right to do so. But, in answers to Senate estimates, the government revealed that they're nowhere near on track to meeting the goals that they set.

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