Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

It is always outrageous to accuse our Prime Minister of breaking his promises. The reason he has been elected so many time is he keeps his promises. That is why he is one of the most successful Prime Ministers in Australian history.

But there are reports I am aware of about this assertion that we have broken a promise to protect 18,700 hectares of old-growth forest in the Styx and Florentine valleys. The Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement increases old-growth protection in Tasmania to over one million hectares, including iconic areas such as the giant trees within the Styx and Florentine valleys. The new reserves have increased the total reserved forest in the Styx to 53 per cent of the valley. Ninety per cent of the upper Florentine valley is either in reserves or unavailable for harvest. In total, an additional 139,500 hectares of forest estate has been protected in reserves, exceeding the election commitment of 125,700 hectares by a total of 13,800 hectares. In addition, up to 45,000 hectares of old-growth forest on private land is expected to be reserved through the new Forest Conservation Fund.

The coupe in question is outside the new reserved areas and will be harvested using non-clearfell methods. Following harvest the coupe will be regenerated to native forest. Three trees in the coupe that were considered too dangerous for workers to safely remove by conventional means were felled using explosives as a preharvesting precaution.

The overall outcome of the new reserved areas is a sensible mix designed to deliver the best protection possible for high-conservation-value forests and for iconic areas such as the tall trees in the Styx. Once again false and baseless accusations of broken promises have been exposed for the fallacies and the lies that they are.