Wednesday, 4 August 2021

Native forest logging

Ms SANDELL (Melbourne) (14:21): My question today is to the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change. It relates to logging at the Alberton West State Forest in Gippsland. The government and the community have actually spent years and millions of taxpayer dollars revegetating and restoring this forest, only to see it now being logged. Scientists have also recently said this logging is likely illegal because VicForests failed to identify and protect threatened species in the area, including the powerful owl and greater glider. Given all of this, will the minister call for an immediate halt to logging in this forest to enable comprehensive threatened species surveying to happen?

Ms D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park—Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Minister for Solar Homes) (14:22): I thank the member for Melbourne for the question. There are a number of matters that have been raised by the member which I have to disagree with because they are not based on facts, and I think it is important for us to do that. We take absolutely very seriously the protection of all of the very important values in our environment, and this is a case that is no less so.

In terms of the Alberton coupe that the member refers to, I can be really clear that the conservation regulator did undertake preharvest surveys and they did find a number of species that needed protection. And so what they did is make it very clear that a number of measures needed to be put in place to protect not just animal species, vulnerable and threatened, but also vegetation classes. Those protections are in place now, which means that in some of the measures that have been put in place there are protections for harvesting not to be able to occur within some of those areas.

I can assure the member, too, that with any complaints or any alleged breaches that community members may find or anybody might find or indeed VicForests, if they want to present those to the conservation regulator—and a number of them have come forward—the Office of the Conservation Regulator, indeed established by this government, will apply all due diligence in the thorough investigation of all of those matters, because we take very seriously the biodiversity values within our communities and we will continue to do so.

Ms SANDELL (Melbourne) (14:24): Minister, logging in several areas across the state has been found to be illegal through challenges in the courts, but instead of stopping logging and protecting the forests in response, the Labor government’s response was to weaken the environment laws and rush through changes to make logging the forests easier, with very little time for the environment and community groups to look at the changes.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! I just ask the member for Melbourne, when we have silence—

Mr Blackwood interjected.

The SPEAKER: Without the assistance of the member for Narracan. The member for Melbourne, can you repeat the question so I can hear the question?

Ms SANDELL: Logging in several areas across the state has been found to be illegal through challenges in the courts, but instead of protecting the forests the government’s response has been to weaken environment laws and rush through changes that make logging the forests easier, and environment and community groups have been given very, very little time to look at these changes. Why has the Labor government decided to change the rules to make it easier for logging to happen, particularly when we know how much it affects our threatened species?

Ms D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park—Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Minister for Solar Homes) (14:25): Thank you to the member for the supplementary question. I will have to differ again from the member on a number of points, and in particular I think it is really critical for people to understand that a previous government—not this government, but certainly those opposite—made a mess of the code, which meant that there were a lot of discrepancies and a lack of clarity within the code which were a hindrance not just to harvesting practices but also to conservation practices. We need to make sure that we are clear about this: our government is not about weakening protections. We have very strong legislation in place. In fact we undertook some significant reviews and changed legislation to actually protect our biodiversity.

A member interjected.

Ms D’AMBROSIO: Absolutely. The one major flaw for any potential court challenges is a lack of clarity in codes and legislation and regulations, and that is what we are cleaning up. Many of those have already been out for consultation in the last three years, and we will continue to deliver on this.