Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party) | Hansard source

We only see these usual personal reflections when they can't get their way or can't make an argument.

We have a $69 million investment into this property, which will reduce its agricultural productivity. They talk about, supposedly, 109 jobs. I don't believe them. I don't believe that there are 109 jobs in this. There won't be 109 jobs even in the planting. Then there'll be 30 years of growth where there might be four or five jobs, and there may be some jobs in the sawmilling industry in 30 years. But I don't believe what's being said about there being 109 jobs in this. And you've got the rubbish from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation saying that this will help divert harvesting away from the native forest industry. Well, last time I looked, you don't get radiata pine out of native forest. They are different trees with different purposes and different environments. You don't get radiata pine from a native forest. So the propaganda and the mumbo jumbo that's coming through this process is absolutely obscene.

The investment in this property will probably halve the value of production coming off that farm over the next 30 years. If any of the people opposite had been prepared to go out and have a look, they would have known. There's one contractor up there who has business cleaning up failed plantations in that region. I have to say I am genuinely concerned for the environmental outcomes with the impact on the water table of the Ramsar-listed wetlands. I think that's a genuine concern, which is why it surprises me that the Greens won't support this. It is a genuine concern. The first 30 years of a tree plantation's growth are the heaviest on water use, and the advice that I have from people who know is that this will lower the water table and negatively affect the Ramsar-listed wetlands that are on that property. In their haste to say this is a wonderful idea, in their haste to support a project where they don't really understand what the real impact is because they haven't been out to talk to people about it, this is the dodgiest process. It stinks to high heaven. The whole process is compromised because the government won't give us any access to any of the information that we should have access to as a part of the consideration of this project.

Debate interrupted.