Ms O’CONNOR (Clark – Leader of the Greens) – Mr Deputy Speaker, we will not be supporting this rubbish motion which seems to come out of the rubbish motion machine every time it is Government Private Members’ Time.
I note that it is not until the end of the motion that has been put forward by Mr Young that the words ‘health, education, housing and community infrastructure’ appear. The entire rest of the motion is basically all about money and the mistaken view that we live in an economy, not a society underpinned by a healthy environment.
I did not listen too carefully to Mr Young’s turgid, colourless, flavourless, entirely read-from-a-prepared-script contribution but it was not persuasive and it actually got me thinking. what is the point of these sorts of speeches that we get from government backbenchers? Why do they do it? Who reads that garbage? Who would? They become just this dull use of the English language and then it becomes a kind of a shopping list. We spent $100 something million here and we are getting boots on the ground and it is cliched and it is boring.
I really wondered what is the point of those sorts of speeches from government backbenchers? It does not help them understand the administration of finances. I do not believe it helps them be better members of parliament. It certainly does not test their talent or skills and it contributes nothing to the public debate. It is of zero relevance to the lived experience of the Tasmanian people and, inevitably, of course, there is always a line in there about, ‘congratulates the Hodgman Liberal Government’, ‘congratulates the Gutwein Liberal Government’. Today, we are congratulating the Rockliff Liberal Government.
They are boring and time-wasting motions that are designed for self-promotion and politics because if Labor votes against this motion then there will be a media release from the Government media office which is publicly funded that says, ‘Labor does not support small business’, or some predictable rubbish –
Dr Broad – It is really important to the political debate.
Ms O’CONNOR – Yes, it really does contribute but, Dr Broad, I have to say, some of the things that you said were wrong. I encourage you to present evidence that the salmon industry is the biggest industry in Tasmania.
Dr Broad – I did not say that.
Ms O’CONNOR – Yes, you did.
Dr Broad – No. Primary industry. Primary industry is what I said.
Ms O’CONNOR – What about our agricultural producers who contributed about $1.5 billion to state product, last time I looked?
Dr Broad – Beef is about six or seven. Dairy is the next biggest, but it is not $1 billion.
Ms O’CONNOR – But you cannot call salmon the biggest industry in the state.
Dr Broad – Primary industry.
Ms O’CONNOR – The biggest primary industry in the state. Bigger than all our farmers?
Dr Broad – Yes. Well, not collectively. You are talking a segment. Bigger than beef. Bigger than dairy. Bigger than vegetables. Bigger than sheep.
Ms O’CONNOR – Look, I will eat my words, although I will never eat Tasmanian salmon again –
Dr Broad – I will.
Ms O’CONNOR – If you can present that information and that evidence, I would love to see it.
Dr Broad – That is fact. Look at the scorecard.
Ms O’CONNOR – Okay, the scorecard presented by the salmon industry?
Ms Finlay – By the Government.
Dr Broad – Primary industry, yes.
Ms Finlay – By the department.
Dr Broad – NRE.
Ms O’CONNOR – Okay. But I have it was a shocking revelation that you put on the Hansard record to think that some of our sawmillers would be ‘forced’ to use high-quality plantation timber. I mean, obviously, Dr Broad, that is a scandal.
Dr Broad – No, they have to use nitens.
Ms O’CONNOR – No, that is a scandal. I mean, honestly!
Dr Broad – It surprised me too, actually.
Ms O’CONNOR – Why would you, in 2023, when the community wants to see stronger forest protection; when even the industry’s own polling, nationally and here, says about 70 per cent of Australians and Tasmanians want to see a move out of old growth logging in the middle of a climate crisis where the planet is overheating; why would you think it is problematic if sawmillers still have supply, and it comes from plantations? I do not understand that; unless it is ideological, and it is about mowing down forests.
Dr Broad – It is not the same as native timber. The point I was making is that they have a contract. This Government is not on that.
Ms O’CONNOR – Irrelevant. It is not about the contract –
Dr Broad – It is.
Ms O’CONNOR – Because Forestry Tasmania needs to provide the wood. Alright? Does it matter if it is native forest timber or plantation timber, from a quality point of view?
Dr Broad – It does.
Ms O’CONNOR – It does, you say? Okay, right.
Dr Broad – You cannot make flooring out of nitens.
Ms O’CONNOR – I have never had a decent sawmiller complain to me, personally, if they have to use a bit of plantation timber. But maybe I do not talk to enough sawmillers. I am sure I do not. But it is nonsense to suggest that only native forest timber is good enough for our sawmillers. The world does move on. There used to be whaling in timtumili minanya, the River Derwent. There was whaling until early last century. Can you imagine, if because of dunderheaded, major party politicians, the whaling industry here was subsidised, propped up, and they were still whaling in the river? I mean, honestly, Mr Deputy Speaker.
Given that I have a few minutes to go, I might just share with the House – because I think it is more interesting to this place than Mr Young’s contribution – the experience of the US Ambassador, the delightful and intelligent Caroline Kennedy. She was very pleased to be escorted to the southern forests to see the Grove of Giants and to better understand the value, the beauty and the complexity of our native forests here. As we were going into that coupe – because the Grove of Giants is on Forestry Tasmania’s three-year logging plan – what the US Ambassador saw was flattened and burned forests. There were great piles of dead old trees on the ground. Could not hear a bird, because that is inevitably what happens – when you remove habitat, you also remove the wildlife.
Fortunately for the ambassador, and the Consul-General Kathleen Lively, who has been down here a few times to visit the state, and was very interested in Tasmania and its people, we moved past the flattened forests and into the beautiful Grove of Giants, where Ambassador Kennedy very willingly allowed herself to be hauled up this tree that has two separate names, depending on the day; this beautiful old tree which on some days is called the Vibe Tower and other days is called Joy for the amount of happiness it brings people who go into that forest.
This incredibly lively 65-year-old ambassador allowed herself to be strapped into a harness and hauled about 60 metres up into a giant tree which is, according to Dr Jen Sanger, probably between 400 and 500 years old and is threatened by logging. Our future is in looking after places like that; because there is nowhere in the whole world like this island, and there are no forests on earth like the ones here, that both major parties seem to get a thrill from politicising, flattening and napalming.
I was truly honoured to go into the forests with Ambassador Kennedy, Senator Nick McKim and Dr Jen Sanger and Steve Pearce and the volunteers from The Tree Projects. I was very proud of The Tree Projects people for their love of this place and what wonderful hosts they were for the ambassador and Consul General. We had a very interesting discussion after Ambassador Kennedy came back down the tree about why we log here; why it is such a political football; and what is the ideology of logging these forests. I have to say, it is not an easy story to tell, because I was talking to the ambassador, I was not in this place, and I wanted to be very careful about what I said. However, it is an awful story of an island that continues to this day to undervalue itself and destroy itself from within.
I know that Ambassador Kennedy’s visit to this beautiful island really moved her. I know that she has gone back to Canberra with many positive memories of her time here; but I suspect that the happiest memory of her time on this island will have been when she was hoisted up that tree called Joy in the Grove of Giants. I hope the fact that Ambassador Kennedy came into the Grove of Giants – and those images have gone global and there is a lot of attention on that beautiful little forest – I hope that at least that piece of forest is not logged, because it is truly a miraculous and beautiful place. These forests are all over the island. They are very precious, and when you see the wonderment through another person’s eyes, from another place, it reinforces how stupid we can be here and what stupid policies and politics we have from the two major parties in this place.
I encourage them, if they can, to show the same empathy for life on earth and curiosity about our forests as Ambassador Caroline Kennedy did. I encourage them to perhaps go into a place like the Grove of Giants and have a good, long, hard think about themselves and what they might want to contribute to the earth that is more positive than the kind of nasty politics we see in here – the ‘who can be more right wing and destructive towards the environment’ kind of vicious circle that we get in here. Have a think about how you are going to feel when you are old, and you are sitting there in your cups, and what you might have done to look after this planet that gave every one of us, our children, and all the people who we love, life.
