Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I am a little confused because I remember when the Greens were out there campaigning for a long time that old-growth forests should not be harvested. I am advised that no old-growth forests are logged for the Heyfield mill. It has always been the case that as soon as the Greens achieve one objective, like old-growth forests, they then go to the next one, saying, 'We can't have plantation forests.' Apparently, we can import all our timber from overseas—which is what we largely do at the moment—but we are not allowed to touch our own forests as well. I think we have a responsibility to sustainably harvest our forests so as to provide jobs and also to provide the goods and services that we all rely on in the modern economy that the Greens use. We can do that because we do not use old-growth forests in this region. I am also advised that the biggest threat to the Leadbeater's possum and possums in the region is bushfires, not the forestry industry, and responsible logging can help deal with that issue as well. Senator Rice, you need to have a more balanced approach to this whole issue than your ideological objective of putting people out of work.