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senate vote 2021-02-15#4
Edited by
mackay staff
on
2021-02-19 11:25:49
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Title
Motions — Forestry- Motions - Forestry - Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement
Description
<p class="speaker">Jonathon Duniam</p><p>I ask that Senators Ciccone, Urquhart, Bilyk, Brown, Polley and Lambie have their names added to the motion. I, and also on behalf of Senators Abetz, Askew, Bilyk, Brown, Chandler, Ciccone, Colbeck, Lambie, McKenzie, Polley and Urquhart, move:</p><p class="italic">That the Senate—</p>- The majority voted in support of a [motion](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?gid=2021-02-15.127.3) introduced by Tasmanian Senator [Jonathon Duniam](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/tasmania/jonathon_duniam) (Liberal), which means it passed. Motions like these don't make any legal changes on their own but can be politically influential because they represent the will of the Senate.
- ### Motion text
- > *That the Senate—*
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- > *(a) notes that the recent decision of the Full Federal Court of Australia has now provided a clear determination on the validity of the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement (RFA);*
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- > *(b) further notes the judgement was a big win for Australia's forest industry and supports the long-held position of this Government, the state of Tasmania and industry that RFAs remain the best way of balancing environmental, economic and social demands for our native forests;*
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- > *(c) acknowledges that the Australian forest industry uses world-class sustainable forest management practices and supports the employment of more than 52,000 hardworking Australians making it an industry that deserves to be celebrated;*
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- > *(d) recognises native forestry has a strong future in Australia, and notes that Neville Smith Forest Products this month announced 40 new Tasmanian jobs driven by demand for sustainably produced native forest products;*
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- > *(e) condemns the Bob Brown Foundation for their consistent use of the Australian courts to decimate the livelihoods of working Australians; and*
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- > *(f) calls on the Bob Brown Foundation and the Australian Greens to accept the decision of the court in what they branded 'the Great Forest Case' and heed Mr Brown's own advice: 'It is time we moved on'.*
<p class="italic">(a)   notes that the recent decision of the Full Federal Court of Australia has now provided a clear determination on the validity of the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement (RFA);</p><p class="italic">(b)   further notes the judgement was a big win for Australia's forest industry and supports the long-held position of this Government, the state of Tasmania and industry that RFAs remain the best way of balancing environmental, economic and social demands for our native forests;</p><p class="italic">(c)   acknowledges that the Australian forest industry uses world-class sustainable forest management practices and supports the employment of more than 52,000 hardworking Australians making it an industry that deserves to be celebrated;</p><p class="italic">(d)   recognises native forestry has a strong future in Australia, and notes that Neville Smith Forest Products this month announced 40 new Tasmanian jobs driven by demand for sustainably produced native forest products;</p><p class="italic">(e)   condemns the Bob Brown Foundation for their consistent use of the Australian courts to decimate the livelihoods of working Australians; and</p><p class="italic">(f)   calls on the Bob Brown Foundation and the Australian Greens to accept the decision of the court in what they branded 'the Great Forest Case' and heed Mr Brown's own advice: 'It is time we moved on'.</p> <p class="speaker">Janet Rice</p><p>I seek leave to make a short statement.</p> <p class="speaker">Sue Lines</p><p>Leave is granted for one minute.</p> <p class="speaker">Janet Rice</p><p>This motion is delusional. The court clarified what we Greens have known for decades—that the law is broken. The court found that regional forest agreements do not have to protect critically endangered wildlife. The Greens commend the Bob Brown Foundation and the protesters who are putting their bodies on the line to protect our forests and our wildlife. Rather than crowing about a judgement that showed just how broken our laws are, the government should be implementing Professor Graeme Samuel's recommendation to immediately reform regional forest agreements. Samuel was very clear. His review said:</p><p class="italic">… environmental considerations under the RFA Act are weaker than those imposed elsewhere … and do not align with the assessment of significant impacts on MNES—</p><p>matters of national environmental significance—</p><p class="italic">required by the EPBC Act.</p><p>It also said:</p><p class="italic">… Commonwealth oversight of environmental protections … is insufficient … The National Environmental Standard … should be immediately applied and RFAs should be subject to robust Commonwealth oversight.</p><p>Hear, hear! <i>(Time expired)</i></p> <p class="speaker">Malcolm Roberts</p><p>I seek leave to make a short statement.</p> <p class="speaker">Sue Lines</p><p>Leave is granted for one minute.</p> <p class="speaker">Malcolm Roberts</p><p>One Nation will be supporting this motion. Regional forest agreements are a federal initiative dating back to 2007. They're designed to provide a high level of protection to old-growth and native forests and to endangered fauna and flora. The Tasmanian agreement has been working well, with excellent environmental protections and sufficient latitude for loggers to produce beautiful, natural, renewable Tasmanian and Australian timber.</p><p>Honourable senators interjecting—</p><p>The Greens object while sitting in their timber-framed homes with timber floorboards at timber desks and with their computers powered, perversely, by timber biofuel. The Greens are sitting right now at timber desks on timber chairs made from Tasmanian myrtle. The Greens' idea of forestry protection is to chop trees down and burn them for power. Tasmania wants to mill those trees into beautiful and useful things instead. The Greens do not understand useful things.</p> <p class="speaker">Sue Lines</p><p>The question is that general business notice of motion No. 978, standing in the name of Senator Duniam and others, be agreed to.</p>
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