Senator GREIG (6:13 PM) —There seems to be some considerable confusion in the chamber here tonight from Labor Party members and, in one instance, Senator Brown. Acting Deputy President Sherry, you—in your more humble capacity as Senator—criticised the Democrats and claimed that we ought to vote against these bills. You felt that very strongly. I am here to point out that we are dealing with two bills and we are, in fact, voting against one of them. Our argument has always been that the Diesel and Alternative Fuels Grants Scheme (Administration and Compliance) Bill 1999 is not unreasonable. Our argument has always been that it is good to discourage the use of diesel within metropolitan areas for environ mental and health considerations. We support that.

However, when it comes to the second bill, TLAB 9 as it is known, that is a bill that is simply about extending subsidies to loggers and woodchippers, as Senator Brown has quite rightly said. We do not support that. We will be there for the forests, contrary to what Senator Brown is arguing on that point. We do not believe that we should extend even greater subsidies towards the destruction of our native forests; we find that abhorrent. Senator Brown has moved a number of amendments with regard to that, and we will consider those when we go into the committee stage.