Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

There were a couple of questions there. Certainly, in terms of where you ended up around forestry certification, I am well aware, from my time as the forestry minister, of the great efforts of many foresters in Australia to meet both national and international certification when it comes to the standards they adopt. The reality, though, as I've said previously, is that the current law means that forestry that occurs under RFAs is one of the few industries where these national environmental standards and the EPBC Act do not apply. So, as I've said before, these changes are about levelling the playing field between forestry and all other industries that are subject to these laws.

As I've said already today, this is not about shutting down native forestry. There's nothing in the bill about shutting down native forestry. I challenge anyone who says it's about shutting down native forestry to show me where it says that in this legislation, because it doesn't. It's about assisting the industry to meet these new standards, to apply the same law that applies to every other industry, and we're confident that that can be done in a way that doesn't interrupt the flow that you're talking about. I'd be happy to have further discussions with you, Senator Colbeck.