Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Ludwig. I refer the minister to statements by the World Wildlife Fund International that it is focusing on companies such as processing companies, commodity traders, manufacturers, retailers and banks, insisting that they deal only with producers endorsed by WWF. Commodities involved include beef, bioenergy, cotton, dairy farm, fish and others. Given that complying with the WWF requirements inevitably means producers paying for an expensive sustainability accreditation and certification scheme plus regular audit, will the minister please outline what action the government is taking to directly assure Australian consumers and other customers for Australian primary products that they are in fact produced sustainably, or has the government simply abdicated this responsibility to the money-making schemes of environmental non-government organisations such as WWF?

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Boswell for his question. He was very quiet there but if I do not get to all those issues I am happy to take them on notice and provide a further response. Can I say at the outset that the coalition more broadly seem to be out of step with many in business. There are seven Australian fisheries that have been certified by the Marine Stewardship Council. The question is why. It is because the participants in those fisheries see that there is a marketing advantage to having MSC certification. The same is true for the forward-looking retailers, manufacturers like Bunnings, Simmons Timber and Kimberly-Clark, who joined with the Uniting Church and Greenpeace to support legislation to stop the trade in illegally harvested timber products. The Gillard government is committed to supporting Australian farmers and fishers to adopt sustainable and innovative practices. To continue to do so, we will increase productivity, build a resilient landscape and respond to a change in climate. The government is working with primary producer sectors to ensure that our food and fibre is produced sustainably, whether it is land, soil or water use.

The Gillard government is working with the industry to ensure sustainability and profitable production, and there is a long list of Labor achievements to that effect: the development of R&D policy; support for the industry owned bodies who conduct R&D marketing functions; Landcare; the Carbon Farming Initiative; support for farmers, who are in many ways environmental managers, in times when they are facing their greatest stress, through the provision of drought assistance; and the development of Australia's first National Food Plan. Consumers and customers want to know that our products are produced sustainably, and demonstrating that food was produced sustainably—(Time expired)

Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I have a supplementary question. Is the government aware of the continuing lobbying by the organisation Markets for Change, urging Japanese buyers not to purchase plywood flooring produced by Tasmanian company Ta Ann Australia, and the loss of sales this has caused? Will the government send an appropriate trade representative to reassure Ta Ann's Japanese customers of the sustainability of Ta Ann's Tasmanian sourced products and so protect Australian jobs?

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Boswell for his first supplementary question. I say at the outset that the Australian government already has this year made representations to Ta Ann customers in Japan. The Australian Embassy in Tokyo hosted the presentation to Japanese customers of Ta Ann Tasmania on 25 January 2013 to that effect. Representatives from the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Wilderness Society of Tasmania attended that embassy briefing to personally deliver their message of support for the signatories agreement and the Tasmanian forest industry.

Understandably, those relying on Ta Ann for their livelihoods are concerned about their future, particularly given that two small groups and Markets for Change continue to challenge market acceptance of Tasmanian wood products that national environmental groups are endorsing. Across the government, the environment minister, Minister Burke, my parliamentary secretary, Mr Sid Sidebottom, Minister Crean and—(Time expired)

Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. I refer the minister to the fact that former Greens federal leader Bob Brown has joined the board and Peg Putt, former Tasmanian Greens leader, has been appointed CEO of Markets for Change. Given the government's reliance on parliamentary support from the Greens, what reassurance will the minister give Australian timber workers that the government will hold Markets for Change to account for ongoing job-destroying actions against customers for Australian timber products?

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Boswell for his second supplementary question. I know he has a longstanding interest in the activities of Bob Brown and Peg Putt. As outlined in my previous answer, the government is working with the industry and with our embassy staff to correct the record.

What we see from the opposition in part is an all care and no responsibility approach to these matters. We have been working very hard, in consultation with Ta Ann in Tasmania and in consultation with the industry, to ensure appropriate and factual information is provided to the global marketplace. We are supporting efforts to develop a lasting solution to the divisive debate that goes on in Tasmania, which those opposite have failed to come on board and find a complete solution to. You have abandoned the industry. That is what you have done. (Time expired)

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.