Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Sterle for his question. It is a trade that benefits criminals and has very serious environmental and economic impacts. A World Bank report estimates that every two seconds an area the size of a football field is harvested by illegal loggers. If you use that estimate, by the time I finish answering this question 600,000 square metres of timber will be illegally logged. The World Bank report also makes it clear that large-scale illegal logging operations are carried out by sophisticated criminal networks, so to act to stop illegal logging is to act to stop organised crime. The illegal logging trade is a global problem, costing around $60 billion each year. It directly threatens timber jobs here at home and in other countries by undercutting the price of legally logged timber.

Knowing the facts about the evils of illegal logging, both sides of politics in the 2010 election campaign committed to combating it. There was bipartisan support to combat illegal logging. In fact, the coalition were on the record during the 2010 election campaign saying that illegal logging corrupts trade and leads to the destruction of the environment. The Gillard government has followed through on its commitment to take action against illegally logged timber, supporting the environment and supporting legal and sustainable forest jobs at home. The Gillard government has consulted with importers, processors, retailers, employees, unions and environmental groups, and we have continued to consult with our trading partners such as New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Canada to ensure that there is a system in place to combat illegally logged timber. Australia takes its international obligations seriously. At the Honolulu APEC leaders summit all leaders undertook to work to implement appropriate measures— (Time expired)