Ms O'CONNOR question to PREMIER, Mr ROCKLIFF
The planet, as you know, is overheating and countless species are being driven to extinction, including animals like the exquisite and critically endangered swift parrot. While Western Australia and Victoria are ending native forest logging, just as New Zealand has, your Government is considering a mendicant, heavily subsidised industries proposal to get into the future reserve forests set aside a decade ago for their high conservation value. While everyone knows your Resources minister has never seen a forest he did not want to flatten and burn, the destruction, division and species decline created by getting into those forests would be on your head.
Do you want to be the Premier who not only restarts the forest wars but is responsible for accelerating the extinction of species like the swift parrot, the masked owl and the Tasmanian devil?
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER - Order, order.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I will now commence my answer. The insults have stopped. You can put your mask back on.
First, we will not be shutting down our native forests industry of Tasmania - we will not be doing it, all right? Victoria is, Western Australia is, but we will not because we value sustainable forest management and we value Tasmanian jobs. Our Government was elected to rebuild Tasmania's forest industry. We tore up the job-destroying Labor-Greens TFA -
Ms O'Connor -The industry's forest agreement you tore up.
Mr SPEAKER - Order.
Mr ROCKLIFF - We restructured Forestry Tasmania into Sustainable Timber Tasmania, putting it on a secure financial footing. We stopped the lock-ups. We are turning back the tide by converting land previously earmarked for reserves into our wood bank, and we have made no secret that this estate, the future potential production land, has been set aside for industry's use. Where industry can demonstrate a need for wood we will work with them to help ensure that their wood supply needs are supported. We will always be a government that supports and backs our industry and sustainable industry, whether that be our aquaculture industry, whether that be our farmers, our foresters or our miners.