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

Thank you, Senator Rice for the question. I'm always happy to take a question on agriculture, fisheries and forestry, and today we've had two such questions from the Labor Party and one from the Greens party but none from the National Party. The National Party has given up on agriculture. Is it any wonder?

Senator Rice, this is obviously an issue that you've asked me about on a number of occasions. I will continue to make the same response, which is that the Albanese government supports Australia's sustainable forestry industry. It's good that you are showing a lot of interest in the internal workings of the Labor Party. We will have our national conference next week and we will discuss a range of matters, including this one. We will no doubt come to a resolution on that.

As I say, the Albanese government's support for our sustainable forestry industry is very clear and has been backed up by over $300 million in investment in our forestry industry since coming to power. The measures that we have funded include modernising timber manufacturing, encouraging innovation, building workforce skills in the forestry industry and removing the water rule, something that the National Party imposed. The water rule actually prevented the plantation of timber and created a disincentive for the plantation of timber. We're also investing over $70 million in the plantation estate. Again, that's something we didn't see under the former government.

The reality is that, in order for Australia to meet its timber and wood product needs, we need a mixture of plantation and native forestry; that might be an inconvenient fact for the Greens party but it is a fact. What we're doing is making sure that, as the proportion of native forestry reduces, we are actively supporting the plantation industry in a way we've never seen before.