David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

At COP15 last year, we saw on the global stage the urgent need to halt and reverse environmental decline. It was made clear at the conference, and it was agreed to. We saw the government reaffirm their commitment to halting extinction. What we need now is action. We don't need more plans to make plans. The thing that we have to get on with is stopping destroying the areas of the environment with the highest biological value.

Continuing to log native forests doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make environmental sense, and it certainly doesn't make economic sense. VicForests lost $54 million last year—that's on top of losses over many years—and has just taken out a loan from Victorian taxpayers for $80 million. The East Gippsland forest management area, the largest in Victoria, is uneconomic for logging and has been classified as noncommercial for more than a decade. But taxpayers are still subsidising logging in these areas, areas that contain these threatened and endangered species that we're supposedly trying to save.

So let's act. We've had scientists tell us for decades what we need to do. When you're in a hole, you stop digging. That's the first step. We have to stop native forest logging in this country. It's no longer good for our communities or for our future. Yes, the timber industry is needed to provide the materials we need for buildings, but that can and should come from plantation forestry. Frontier Economics analysis shows that in south-east New South Wales the plantation industry is worth 160 times the native forest sector and employs far more people. The economic benefit that was from native forests is now in other industries. We have to start moving on. We have to have more imagination for these communities that have been logging towns for many years. Going to the Central Highlands: the value of water and tourism to regional GDP is 25.5 times and 20 times the value of timber and woodchips.

The best way to meet and go beyond 43 per cent by 2030 and net zero by 2050 is to stop cutting down one of the best carbon storage technologies we have. We need to stop cutting down native forests. We can have better outcomes for jobs and income generation, and avoidance of lossmaking that's eventually paid by the taxpayer, by exiting native forest logging as soon as possible. We can invest in logging towns to set them up for the future. It's possible; it's been done elsewhere. The longer we go down this road, the worse it is for these towns, who could potentially be entering into the carbon market and tourism, and the worse it is for all these threatened species, like Leadbeater's possum and the greater gliders, that are threatened not just by loss of habitat but by a warming climate. Many of them are very heat sensitive, and we need to ensure that there are areas of land as big as possible for them to move to and be able to deal with the changing climate.

I implore the government. I thank them for their commitment, but it has to be backed up with investment. We know that this is going to cost money, but it's worth it. We're investing in nature. We're investing in our future. And we're part of nature. If nature goes down, we go down with it. There's no standing outside of it. So I really implore the government, with the upcoming budget, to invest in nature, make good on your promise, because Australians and future generations of Australians are relying on you. And, when it comes to native forest logging, have the courage and have the imagination to bring forward the exit from native forest logging. Bring forward the exit to a new economy, with good jobs in other industries for these towns in regional areas.