2016-05-04
Ms DUNN: My question is for the Minister for Agriculture. It is in relation to the Imperium logging coupe in the Central Highlands of Victoria. I have been provided with details of a conversation with Mr Walsh from VicForests who advised a community member that VicForests has no capacity to swap out the Imperium logging coupe, a coupe that contains Leadbeater's possum, with another coupe as there is no other coupe to swap to. This seems to indicate that supply capacity has reached a critical low. Can the minister advise whether she has run out of logging coupes, timber supply and the ability to swap out the Imperium logging coupe.
ANSWER
Ms PULFORD I thank Ms Dunn for her question and her interest in this matter and matters relating to the timber industry in Victoria. As Ms Dunn and other members are no doubt aware, the government has been supporting the establishment and ongoing work of a timber industry task force. There are many people and organisations involved in exploring areas of potential consensus and recommendation to government about the future of the timber industry, and of course, in doing so, seeking to balance those imperatives of job protection and creation but also the environmental benefits that I know Ms Dunn holds very dearly. There have been, as part of the work of the task force, I am advised, a number of discussions around coupe swaps, where the parties have been engaged in discussion around protection of those areas with highest environmental value. The coupe swap process is something that has been undertaken over a number of months. I am not in a position to definitively respond to Ms Dunn’s assertion about a conversation that she had around the availability of timber, but I certainly know that VicForests and indeed departmental staff, through both the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), have been supporting the work of the task force. I think we all look forward to seeing the task force’s final deliberations, which are due to government by the end of June.
Ms DUNN: I thank the minister for her answer. Can the minister advise why has VicForests declared intention to log the Imperium coupe prior to the completion of a DELWP survey, where citizen scientists have already identified the presence of Leadbeater’s possum? Will the minister intervene to rein in VicForests?
Ms PULFORD: Ms Dunn refers to the work of members of the community who choose to involve themselves in these matters and provide reports based on their observations to DELWP, which works closely with VicForests to ensure that all of the regulations that exist to protect the sustainable operation of our timber industry and those environmental values, as well as of course the greatwork that VicForests does in supporting the recovery of the Leadbeater’s possum