Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

The Australian government has always supported the renewable, sustainable native forest industry in Victoria. Our policy for forestry is to ensure both a strong plantation and a strong native forest sector. We also support vibrant regional communities and the people that live and work in them. We back the 5,000 people that work in the forestry industry in Victoria. We back their families and their communities. Our government knows that beautiful Australian-grown natural hardwood is a sustainable resource and, therefore, in demand for very, very good reasons. We're actually very proud of this. The demand is high for appearance-grade forest products that can only be sourced in large quantities from native forests. Let's be clear: every single tree that is harvested in Victoria is replanted and regrown in native forestry. Only a very small area of Victoria is actually subject to this: 0.04 per cent of the total publicly-owned area. (Time expired)