Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) | Hansard source

Thank you for clarifying that, Minister. I note that 88 per cent of the wood produced in this country comes from plantations, and there is no disagreement in this place that everyone wants to see wood coming from those sustainably managed plantations, where the bulk of the jobs are and the bulk of the industry is occurring, go ahead. We are talking about our precious native forests, our old-growth forests, our forests that are home to threatened species such as Leadbeater's possums, greater gliders, long-footed potoroos and Eastern quolls—the species that we were cuddling out in the Senate courtyard earlier this week—that are being destroyed by logging operations.

When people decide that it is their responsibility to stand up for our heritage and our precious forests and they hold a protest action at the mill that is turning those forests into woodchips, that is going to be covered under this bill. That trespass action will not only be covered under state law. Yes, okay; if you're trespassing then there is law that says you cannot do that. When that goes before a court, what often happens is that the court will say, 'There was actually a reason why that trespass was occurring.' If it was a peaceful protest action then that court process would say, 'There were circumstances as to why these people in the community felt the need to be acting to protect our forests and to take protest action to protect our heritage.' But this law goes far beyond that. It criminalises just sharing information about that protest action. It criminalises asking people to come and attend that protest action, to stand up for the protection of their forests for themselves, for our community and for our future. That is what this legislation is doing.