REGULATIONS AND DETERMINATIONS
Senator BELL (New South Wales—One Nation Whip) (16:10): Here we are again, dealing with the absurd consequences of Labor's net zero obsession. It's got to the point where even the Greens are split over your absurd net zero obsession. What are we fighting about today?
Today is a fight about whether Australia is a country that continues to do things and make things, or whether we allow Labor and the Greens to continue to shut down our industries, export our jobs and drive up electricity prices—and we know that's what this is about, because the Greens have flagged it. They have explained how they get to use this as a thin edge of the wedge to further destroy cheap, reliable electricity, destroy coal, destroy gas and drive up power prices.
The Greens are cheering that on. They've exposed that that is what this is about. That is what this regulation does.
On top of that you're creating a perverse financial incentive for state governments to stop industry, stop harvesting timber in native timber plantations. Timber is a crop. Now the timber they harvest the more carbon credits they can claim.
This is forestry shut down because of net zero, because you believe that your legislated targets are an excuse to sacrifice this industry and workers in it. The forestry and forest products support around 20,000 jobs in New South Wales, including thousands of jobs in regional communities that can least afford another industry to be shut down. These are workers, families, small businesses and entire towns that depend on forestry paycheques—forestry workers, truck drivers, contractors, sawmill workers, apprentices, machinery operators—and this is about taking away their livelihood and destroying their jobs.
As we heard Senator Pocock say, these credits only get paid when the forestry stops. This is a job killer. Local mechanics, fuel supplies, cafes and shops rely on a working forestry industry.
When Labor and the Greens talk about a transition, regional workers hear something else. They hear, 'We will stop at nothing to drive our net zero agenda, and, if your job disappears, if your family suffers and if your financial future is put at risk, then you are simply collateral damage.' This scheme requires a cut in timber harvesting before carbon credits can be earned.
It lets governments collect credits for taking forestry out of production, while regional communities are left to deal with the consequences. Australians will not suddenly stop needing timber. We need hardwood timber for homes.
We need it for frames, flooring, bridges, pallets, packing paper, furniture, farming, manufacturing. We need it to keep Australia's supply chains moving. If Labor and the Greens continue to shut down local supply, then where is that timber coming from?
It's coming from overseas. Labor talks endlessly about a future made in Australia. Perhaps the future of Australian hardwood will be made in Malaysia.
Australia has an abundance of one of the world's most sustainable resources, timber, yet, instead of backing responsible local production, Labor's agenda is shutting it down. I've seen the consequences firsthand on the New South Wales Mid North Coast. I toured the region recently and heard directly from the community facing unemployment, uncertainty and job losses because of the Great Koala National Park.
While Australians shut down forestry, eucalyptus is being grown for timber in other countries, including across Europe. Apparently it's acceptable for other countries to grow eucalyptus, create rural jobs and supply other industries, but, when Australia seeks to responsibly manage forests, employ Australians and produce renewable timber at home, Labor and the Greens want to shut it down.
Scrapping net zero means ending an ideological war on Australian production. It means protecting Australia's forestry workers. It means securing hardwood timber for Australian homes, Australian manufacturers and Australian supply chains.
That is why One Nation will scrap net zero. It is why I support this motion. Please listen to the Greens when they tell you that they are using this as a way to further destroy cheap, reliable and effective energy.
Listen to them when they tell you that is their ultimate agenda because that is what they're doing. I think people should be very clear that this is the agenda behind it. They are seeking, through their obsession with net zero, to shut this country down.
The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Scarr ): We have 1½ minutes before the guillotine.