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

I thank Senator Rice for her question to the government. I think it is unfortunate that Senator Ruston can't answer the question, because I am sure she would do a much, much better job at it than I. Regardless, I will do my best as the Minister representing the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources. The Australian government supports a strong and vibrant forestry industry in this country. We support the sustainable use of our resources, including our forestry resources, because many more small country towns rely on this industry for their livelihood. It is their lifeblood. Around 60,000 people are employed in this industry and they contribute $24 billion to the economy every year.

We are committed to the regional forestry agreements. We do believe they are the best way of balancing the environmental, economic and social demands to ensure the sustainable use of our native forests. We are seeking also to ensure that we meet our election commitment to establish a 20-year rolling life for each regional forest agreement, to provide resource security and a stable investment environment to the forest industry.