Mr NAIRN —Mr Speaker—

Mr Snowdon interjecting—

Mr SPEAKER —The member for Eden-Monaro will resume his seat. The member for the Northern Territory persistently ignores the rulings of the chair and will leave the House, under the provisions of 304A.

Ms Macklin —What did he say?

Mr SPEAKER —The member for the Northern Territory made a remark which I heard and which the member for Eden-Monaro thought offensive. The member for the Northern Territory had, however, at that stage been asked to remove himself from the chamber, and I require him to do so.

The honourable member for the Northern Territory thereupon withdrew from the chamber.

Mr NAIRN —My question is to the Minister for Forestry and Conservation. Can the minister inform the House of progress with regional forest agreements in New South Wales? Has the Carr government kept its promise to provide to you data to support its unilateral withdrawal of another 450,000 hectares of public land from sustainable forestry operations? Are the small rural businesses which have been destroyed by this and earlier decisions receiving proper compensation under the joint Forestry Industry Structural Adjustment Program, and have real jobs been found for the workers who have been made unemployed?

Mr TUCKEY (Forestry and Conservation; Minister Assisting the Prime Minister) —I have previously informed the House of the Carr Labor government's refusal to negotiate regional forest agreements with the Commonwealth and its refusal to supply ecological and economic data to support its unilateral withdrawal of vast areas of forest from sustainable logging and to substantiate its consequent harvest projections. That situation remains unchanged, and there is no progress in those negotiations. It therefore follows that not one lost forest job in New South Wales and not one small business closure in the forest regions of New South Wales results from any action attributable to the Commonwealth government. The Commonwealth government is yet to come to any agreement with the New South Wales government.

Honourable members will also recall that, as a result of this breach of agreement by the Carr government, I was left with no choice but to suspend the Commonwealth funding to the joint Forestry Industry Structural Adjustment Program, otherwise known as FISAP. I was confronted with the position of being asked to pay out the vendor finance before they had signed the transfer. Quite simply, the Commonwealth government is not going to fund unilateral Carr government actions upon which we have not been consulted and over which we have no control.

The job losses and small business closures which will arise out of these New South Wales government decisions are clearly caused by, and are solely the responsibility of, the New South Wales government. When I discussed these matters with Minister Yeadon, he told me, `We will fund the business component of FISAP ourselves.' He later further wrote to me and said, `We have made no assumptions about the availability of Commonwealth funding in our arrangements.'

Mr Price —Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order on relevance. Perhaps he should make a ministerial statement: it would be more appropriate.

Mr SPEAKER —The minister was asked a question about the Regional Forest Agreement. As far as I can tell, that is what his answer is focusing on.

Mr TUCKEY —Mr Speaker, I was also asked whether people were being paid out for the jobs they have lost through these unilateral actions.

Mr SPEAKER —I have deemed the answer relevant.

Mr TUCKEY —Thank you. Later he wrote to me—this is the minister in New South Wales, Mr Yeadon—and said, `We have made no assumptions about the availability of Commonwealth funding to assist in this exit payment.' The New South Wales government is now hiding behind public officials who have written to the applicants for business exit assistance. I quote from that letter:

As the Commonwealth government holds the primary responsibility for business exit assistance funding, I regret to advise you that the Forestry Structural Adjustment Unit is unable to process your application at this time.

Let me tell you again that the fact is that the New South Wales government—having driven people out of their employment and taken away their businesses; having been told that, because they have not concluded these agreements, they are not to get Commonwealth funding; and having said to us that they did not need it—are now getting their public servants to write to people and say, `Sorry, mate. We haven't got any money for you.' That is an outrageous situation and it stands in stark contrast to the statements made by the coalition opposition in New South Wales, who have promised to immediately reinstate negotiations on regional forest agreements so that people who do get unfortunately affected can be paid out.

Mr Howard —Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper .

Mr McMullan —I ask that the minister table the document from which he was quoting.

Mr SPEAKER —I am required to ask the minister two questions. Was he reading from a document?

Mr Tuckey —I was certainly reading from a document.

Mr SPEAKER —Is the document confidential?

Mr Tuckey —It is, Mr Speaker.