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

Senator Pocock, you kept your questions short, so I'll try to keep my answers short so that you have time for further questions. As I said earlier, the $300 million Forestry Growth Fund that the government announced today is all about supporting the future growth of that industry and supporting ongoing employment in the industry. While the information about the fund that's been published today gives an indication of its likely priorities, what we've also said in that information is that we will now be working in more detail with the industry, unions and state governments on the design of that fund. But we have not inserted a ban on funds being used for native forestry or for plantations. We have said that one example of what the funds could be used for is to expand plantations, just as we've indicated that the funds could be used to retool mills and to assist business buy and install new technology to allow for higher-value-adding products from forestry. That's the general detail about the fund, but clearly there's more work to do with all of those stakeholders around exactly what the funds can be used for, when it will be available and those kinds of things.

On rulings, this was a specific recommendation from Professor Samuel in his review. The idea there is that, just as the Australian tax office can give a ruling about its interpretation of a particular section of the tax act, this will enable the minister of the day to issue rulings to the public about how particular sections of this act will be interpreted. It would certainly not be envisaged that it would be used as a way for a minister to rule on a particular project and as to whether a particular project or particular action met a standard; it's more a matter of providing guidance. Again, frankly, that enables better protection of the environment and gives business a bit more certainty about how decisions will be made.