Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

As I say, Senator Rice, I invite you to let the Australian people know how we would meet our timber and paper product needs if we were to end native forestry immediately, in the way that you suggest. I also invite you to explain to the Australian people what effect on the environment it would have if, as a result of ending native forestry overnight, Australian importers were to instead turn to forestry activities overseas, which have far worse environmental standards than our own country does.

What we're trying to do is make sure that we have a sustainable forestry industry and that we can meet our timber and paper product needs but that we have strong environmental principles around it. That's exactly what Minister Plibersek has flagged as part of the implementation of the Samuel review.