During the election campaign, one or the other of the Liberals election promises to existing Forestry Tasmania customers was that there would be 158,000 cubic metres of saw logs coming to them from Future Potential Production Forest (FPPF) land, the new land that you're intending on going into. How did you arrive at such a precise figure if you haven't actually found the land that you are seeking to convert?
On the question that you've asked many times who does forestry better than Tasmania, I think one obvious answer to that is any one of the more than 1500 jurisdictions in 83 countries that have managed to achieve Forest Stewardship Certification (FSC). Tasmania has not done that. In fact, Forestry Tasmania has twice tried and failed to get FSC. The reason for that has been their continued logging of swift parrot habitat. You can laugh, but that was the evidence that was provided from the certifiers at the last attempt of Forestry Tasmania.
On the 39,000-hectare conversion of high conservation‑value public forests, this was in your 100 day plan, this proud additional destruction of our forests. Can you tell me where the process is up to exactly in the conversion? As you mentioned before, there is a stage process under the Forestry (Rebuilding the Forestry Industry) Act. It has about eight steps to it. Can you please tell the committee where the process is up to there, and can you please provide us with a map or details of the areas that are being investigated?
Given that you're not changing your position, can you please tell us, if you're successful in converting 39,000 hectares of high conservation value FPPF forests, is it your intention to convert them to PTBZ land to be managed by Forestry Tasmania?
Mr President, while we acknowledge that this bill is, in part, administrative and tidying up in nature, we do not support it. The Greens do not support this bill because it has the potential to increase habitat loss and fragmentation across our forest landscape. Also, it disempowers regional communities.
The Greens thank the courage of the peaceful forest defenders who were sentenced in the Hobart Magistrates Court today. Their commitment to protecting our island’s special places, in spite of draconian anti-protest laws designed to silence them, is inspiring.
They were actually set aside under the Tasmanian Forest Agreement because of their high conservation value.
Do you recognise that logging and burning native forests has a negative impact on the climate?
The greenhouse gas emissions report shows our state gross carbon emissions have continued business as usual for the past three decades.
There are 39,000 hectares of biodiverse reserve forests the Liberals plan to log and burn, and they won’t tell Tasmanians where those forests are.