Senator HARRIS (9:20 PM) —In speaking to the Regional Forest Agreements Bill, I emphasise to the Senate the high importance of the native hardwood industry to the rural economy of Queensland, particularly in the south-east corner of the state which contains 80 per cent of the native timber industry in Queensland. For the information of the Senate, approximately 3,000 employees and their families depend on the continuity of the industry in the south-east corner of the state. The gross value production of the industry is approximately $100 million per year. Around 44 towns in the south are dependent on the native hardwood industries to varying degrees, and the future prosperity of these people depends greatly on a favourable outcome from the Queensland Labor government.

Last week, 52 people lost their jobs in Western Australia—with another 200 people to go—as a result of the state government reneging on an RFA deal. I do not want to see that happen in Queensland. To reinforce this point, some 4,000 workers, business operators and their families recently staged a most successful march through Brisbane. They demonstrated unequivocally to the Queensland state government that they would accept no job losses resulting from the RFA process. This process must be based on sound and scientific evaluation of product, our forest assets and management, and not on green hyperbole.

Australia has very good forest management by world standards. According to the department of primary industries, Australia has 11.3 per cent of its 156 million hectares set aside in conservation reserves. This figure compares favourably with the world average of eight per cent. Even such green organisations as the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources and the World Wide Fund for Nature recommend 10 per cent of current forest coverage as a target. In fact, of the 156 million hectares of native forest in Australia, less than one per cent is harvested in any one year. In addition, this small portion is selectively harvested, not clear-felled.

In Queensland at least I know that no old growth forest is harvested, not that it is easy to tell the difference between old growth and properly managed forest. I know that on Fraser Island it is not possible to determine areas which have been logged from untouched areas. It is a popular question among tour operators who ask people on their buses to identify which side of the track has actually been involved. It is not unusual for people to pick the side that has been harvested.

In my opinion, the green movement has been far too successful in influencing state and federal government policy in relation to native hardwood forestry, to the great detriment of our forest based industries. I firmly believe that the Australian people have been hoodwinked in the past and necessarily deprived of a valuable economic resource. I warn all timber workers, small businesses, families and anyone else who depends on the native hardwood industry for their livelihoods: do not become complacent. The green lobby is well funded and very experienced. Everyone in the forestry industry must make politicians understand that they will not be ridden over roughshod by politicians hunting for city votes and they will not support any politician or party that does not support them.

Like most Australians, I consider myself a conservationist at heart. I would like my children and grandchildren to be able to enjoy our forest and natural wonders as I have. I know that small farmers are conservationists too, as they depend on the productivity of their farms. Commercial fishermen are also conservationists, as they depend on the continuity of fish stocks for their survival. Likewise, I do not know many people employed in the timber industry who are not conservationists at heart, as they depend on the continuity of their forests for survival. The demand for hardwood and timber products in general in Australia will continue to increase. This demand must be met regardless of the RFA process.

One aspect of the debate ignored by many is that the more timber we import the more jobs and income we lose, and the more we encourage the plundering of forests by rapacious multinationals in other parts of the world where they have less conservation protection than we have in Australia. Although we have cleared too much land in the past, this was because we were a young and developing country and the practice of forestry did not exist in earlier times. Most of our present problems are due to the fact that governments in the past have not ensured that sufficient native hardwood plantations were established to meet demand. Even though governments are mainly at fault, it is the industry that is now being blamed.

In future, with proper management and establishment of more hardwood timber plantations there is no reason why we cannot increase our native hardwood industry, inject some economic life into our country towns and increase our exports. I cannot support clause 3 of the bill stipulating that regional forest agreements must recognise indigenous heritage values to the exclusion of all other values. I believe that all heritage, whether Aboriginal or not, is of value. Therefore, I will move an amendment to the bill in the committee stage.