Senator BROWN(3.08 p.m.) —Senator Margetts has cogently put the case for the minister—

Senator Ferguson —You may as well sit down then.

Senator Patterson interjecting—

Senator BROWN —The members opposite, including Senator Ferguson and Senator Patterson, think this is a joke. But the Australian public that are concerned about the forests have a much more serious point of view. They believe that these forests should be protected, and that is why there are a number of citizens, enduring a great deal of discomfort and the risk of worse, doing the job of the failed Minister for the Environment, Senator Robert Hill, down in the forests of Western Australia as we sit here.

It may be all right for the coalition members opposite, in their comfortable position, as we all have in this Senate, to dismiss what those people are doing down there. Those people are carrying out the real work that this Senate ought to be doing, and that is protecting this nation's heritage, not least this nation's forest heritage. Having been to Giblett block two years ago when similar protests were taking place under the past government—

Senator Bob Collins —I've been there too.

Senator BROWN —Senator Collins says that he has been there too, and I accept that. What is remarkable is that the previous government was also in the business of allowing logging to take place in this magnificent piece of forest. Some of the tallest hardwoods and some of the most grand living creatures on the face of the planet, in the form of the Giblett block karris and jarrahs, are being cut down to be taken to the wood chip mills and exported to the rubbish dumps of the Northern Hemisphere for a quick dollar.

In those circumstances there is a heavy responsibility on the shoulders of the Minister for the Environment to intervene in the national interest. But instead of that we find that he is an agent of destruction; we find that he has ignored advice from his own advisers which says, in part:

It is the Commission's—

This is the Australian Heritage Commission—

view that this proposal—

to log the area—

will have a regionally significant adverse impact on old-growth forest within the Southern Forest Region,—

of Western Australia—

and a localised adverse impact on site expressions of a range of national estate values, including: representative vegetation communities; vegetation assemblages; vegetation community diversity values; biotic and abiotic processes; and wilderness characteristics.

The minister says to Senator Margetts, `Leave it to the Western Australian government because it is going to destroy those values,' and he gets up and misleads the Senate by saying that he has not had advice that this area be protected. He has had advice, and he stands indicted yet again for his failure to do his job; for his failure to stand with the majority of Australians in seeing that these forests are protected for their inherent national and international values and for their importance to the future of this nation.

It is a pretty disgraceful situation that we face. It is a dereliction of duty by a minister whose actions are reprehensible, not for what he is actually doing but for what he is failing to do. He is failing to stand up for key parts of this nation's heritage. He is going to be taken on by the Greens all the way down the line as he fails to do the job he is charted to do, as he fails to carry his responsibility into the cabinet to speak up for and defend the environment and as he fails his commission as chief environmentalist in this country: to advocate for the environment—not to be against it as he is; and to protect these forests—not to be part of actions by this government leading to their destruction. He has become an agent of destruction rather than an agent of protection and he is a disgrace as far as the environment is concerned. He is welshing on his responsibilities to protect the environment.

Senator Calvert —Madam Deputy President, I ask you to ask the honourable senator to withdraw that remark that he made about the Leader of the Government in the Senate. It is unparliamentary, and he knows it.

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT —Senator, would you withdraw the words, please?

Senator BROWN —He can have that withdrawal.

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT —Unconditionally, thank you.

Senator BROWN —He can have that withdrawal, but the fact is—

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT —Order! Your time has expired, but I would like an unconditional withdrawal, thank you.

Senator Brown —He has got that withdrawal. That is what I said. Look at the record.