BILLS – EPBC Package 2025 – IN COMMITTEE

I want to make some comments that broadly go to amendment on sheet 3511 and the bill itself, particularly given I was denied the opportunity to speak during the second reading debate. Well, we have been. We very much have been denied the opportunity to speak. The government continues to use gags and guillotines at a rate we’ve never seen before. Once again, a very complex piece of legislation is being rushed through the Senate without any necessity. There’s no reason this has to be done before Christmas, and there’s certainly no reason it has to be done before the sun goes down here in the ACT. We could be staying here a lot longer. The main point I want to raise here today is that this is a bill that is going to put people’s jobs at risk. We have a situation right now in our economy. Inflation is going up, unemployment is going up and interest rates are probably going to be going up in the new year, yet this government’s priority this week, before Christmas, is not to try and get the economy going or to bring inflation under control but to push through a bill that puts at risk thousands of jobs in our forestry sector—thousands of union jobs, too. Good union members have now had their Christmas made a little more uncertain because this bill is going through and tearing up regional forestry agreements. Those agreements have been in place to protect those jobs, to protect those forestry workers, and the Labor Party used to profess that they supported those jobs, that they were on side with them—until today. As with so many other industries in this country, time and time again, the Labor Party sells people’s jobs down the river. They did it with the live export industry in the last term of parliament. The shearers, the truck drivers, the farmers—they were not considered by the Labor Party. They were not worthy of their protection, because they had to do a deal with the Greens and the Animal Justice Party to get preferences and be elected. And now we see the sequel in this term of parliament, where they’re willing to shut down the Tasmanian forestry industry. We have Tasmanian senators who say nothing. They don’t stand up for their state. This is meant to be the states’ house, but they stay completely silent and just let these jobs get sold down the river again. That is exactly what is happening here. This EPBC Act does have separate provisions for different sectors. It has them for the oil and gas sector, which are still maintained through NOPSEMA, despite this bill, and we had them for the forestry agreements as well, so that there were easier ways of managing environmental issues in industries we know a lot about—we know a lot about the risks, and we have a long history and tradition of doing forestry sustainably in this country. This government has ripped up all that experience, ripped up the record of achievement of the forestry industry, and thrown the sector to the wolves of litigators and green activists, who will now use these changes to shut down the industry by tying it up with green tape and litigation in our courts. Nothing could be more true than that, given this bill. We then have the spectacle of a dodgy environment minister trying to tell those workers that somehow he’s going to help grow their jobs. Earlier in this debate, I heard Senator Watt say: ‘It’s all okay. Your jobs will be fine. We’re going to have a forestry growth fund. It’s in the name.’ That’s what he said! You know it’s going to be growth because we’ve called it ‘growth’. How could it not be? It’s called growth. It’s like somebody from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea saying, ‘Look! We’re a democracy. It’s in the name. Of course we’re a democracy. It’s called the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. How dare you accuse us of being authoritarian?’ When the minister was pressed—’Okay, you’ve called it the Forestry Growth Fund. That sounds excellent, Minister. What exactly are you going to invest in with that $300 million?’—he said, ‘We’re still working through the details.’ He’s got no idea! We in the National Party have seen this so many times before. The government will say: ‘It’s okay. We’re going to remove these tariffs. We’re going to change these regulations. We’re going to have dairy deregulation. We’re going to get rid of wheat marketing. It’s all good. We’ll have a fund, and we’ll invest in new equipment and technology.’ Before you know it, the tobacco industry is no more, we lose sugar mill after sugar mill, and we’re lucky to have a few hundred dairy farmers left in Queensland. All these workers aren’t as gullible as you think, Minister. They’re not naive. They know a spiv when they hear one, and you are being a spiv tonight, because you’re gaslighting them into suggesting that somehow a $300 million fund will make up for the massive risks you’ve imposed on their industries and jobs today. What we’ve seen here, ladies and gentlemen, is the reunion of a beautiful relationship. Do you all remember, about 15 years ago now, when Bob Brown and Julia Gillard—they had little wattles in their lapels, I remember— signed the agreement, exchanged vows and formed a Greens-Labor coalition in 2010. They agreed to have a carbon tax that we were never to have. And, today, isn’t it wonderful to see such a loving couples, even though they have fallen out over the years at different times. That’s right! But I want to focus on the positives today, because we’ve seen this beautiful relationship return. The Labor-Green marriage is back together. They walked down the aisle. They’re now a happy couple about to go on their honeymoon just before Christmas. And, in doing so, they’re willing to sell out whatever Australians they need to, just like they did 15 years ago. Ultimately, decisions and deals like this are about the government’s priorities. What are their priorities for the Australian people? Clearly, the government’s priority right now is to increase the amount of regulation and red tape that businesses face in this country. Their priority is to put above the protection of workers and their jobs the prosecution of green, left goals that many in the Labor Party want to pursue. The green, left wing of the Labor Party are happy. The AWU, right-wing part of the Labor Party are a little bit less happy. The government’s priorities are on display on this last day before Christmas. Our priorities on this side were always to stand up for the jobs of the hardworking men and women in this country who don’t get the time to go on marches and protests or spend their whole lives on social media, making comments and demanding more legislation and laws. They’re too busy right now trying to balance their budgets and too tired at the end of their day after working in the sun, getting dirty and hot, to be the activists that the Labor Party seems so close to now. Those people are just forgotten about. They’re totally ignored and forgotten about by this LaborGreen cabal. But, like many instances following a conjugation of a Labor-Green relationship, eventually those people—those workers—wake up. They find out the deals that have been done behind their backs, that their jobs are now at risk and that sometimes they get the pink slip and no longer have a job. When that happens, there will be a backlash. Those people will have more time then to be on social media, and they will find out that, despite the Labor Party having Labor in their name—like the minister says, it’s in the name—they don’t represent workers, people who have to labour for their livelihood. They don’t represent them at all. They’re just like the democratic republic of Korea. They’re not a democracy. They’re not a labour party. They’re now a greens party using the costume of a once-proud workers’ party to try and defraud the working people of the Australian population that, somehow, they’re on their side. They’re not. This week and today just underline that with a big red pen. They are willing to do a deal with the very people that want to sign the death warrant on the forestry industry. Make no mistake about it. The Greens political party want to end the native forestry industry. It is a stated goal of them, and the Labor Party are dealing with them and signing up with them. Ultimately, you can judge somebody by the company they keep, and the Labor Party are keeping company with people who want to shut down industry and put thousands of Australians out of work. That’s why we’re fighting. I’m always proud to stand up and fight for the workers of this nation. I’m proud that we won’t be supporting this rubbish. One day we’ll fight to make sure we have this corrected and that we once again protect the vibrant, sustainable Australian forestry industry.