Senator Brown asked the Minister representing the Minister for Primary Industries and Energy, upon notice, on 7 August 1996:

(1) For each licence to export unprocessed wood, current at 31 July 1996, can the following information be provided: (a) the company name; (b) the port through which the wood will be exported; (c) the type of wood (softwood or hardwood); (d) the form (whole logs, woodchips or other); (e) the source of the wood (whether plantation or native forest, crown or private, logging, silvicultural or sawmill residues, or other); (f) the volume (green tonnes disaggregated according to type of wood, form and source in the categories of (c), (d) and (e); and (g) the dates of issue and expiry.

(2) For each application for a licence to export unprocessed wood received between 1 January and 31 July 1996, which has not yet been issued or rejected, can the following information be provided: (a) the company name; (b) the port through which the wood is proposed to be exported; (c) the type of wood (softwood or hardwood); (d) the form (whole logs, woodchips or other); (e) the source of the wood (whether plantation or native forest, crown or private, logging, silvicultural or sawmill residues, or other); (f) the volume applied for (green tonnes disaggregated according to type of wood, form and source in the categories of (c) (d) and (e); (g) the date of the application; and (h) the starting date and length of time for which the application is made.

Senator Parer —The Minister for Primary Industries and Energy has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1) The enclosed tables provide the information requested in regard to unprocessed wood export licences current as at 31 July 1996. Table 1 shows hardwood woodchip licences, while Table 2 shows softwood licences.

(a) Refer Tables 1 & 2.

(b) Refer Tables 1 & 2.

(c) Refer Tables 1 & 2.

(d) Refer Tables 1 & 2.

(e) Refer Tables 1 & 2. Subject to individual licence conditions, wood can be sourced from Crown or private land. Hardwood woodchip licences require exporters to give preference (in descending order) to sawmill residues, reject logs, logging residues, silvicultural thinnings and silvicultural residues.

(f) Refer Tables 1 & 2. Only aggregate volumes shown. Hardwood woodchip licences require exporters to give preference (in descending order) to sawmill residues, reject logs, logging residues, silvicultural thinnings and silvicultural residues. They do not specify the proportion of each type of material that may be exported.

(g) Refer Tables 1 & 2.

There are a number of other licences for the export of relatively small volumes of sandalwood from Queensland and Western Australia. Licences were also issued for small volumes of hardwood exported on a trial basis. These have not been detailed in this response.

(2) There were 4 applications for export licences received between 1 January 1996 and 31 July 1996 which had not been considered, one of which was for the export of hardwood chips. It is not appropriate for me to comment on these applications.

Table 1: Hardwood Woodchip Export Licences (as at 31/7/96)

Table 2: Softwood Export Licences (current as at 31 July 1996)