Eric Hutchinsons maiden speech: And forestry—oh yes, forestry. Guess what, Madam Speaker? We are really good at growing trees in Tasmania. There is not enough time allocated in this debate to fully address the subject. Suffice to say that, like all agricultural crops, it must be managed! Tasmanian Aborigines managed the land with fire. Yet, with Labor under a Green thumb, we are going down a path of putting more and more of Tasmania into reserves. True conservationists in Europe and North America are watching with amazement at what is going on in Tasmania. In the past six months, we have added more forests to the World Heritage estate—apparently a minor boundary adjustment—but with no local consultation and against the advice of their own advisory bodies. These forests have been working forests for over 160 years, forests that have been harvested and regrown in some cases three times—not pristine wilderness as the Greens would have you believe. But, in the cruellest of twists, these forests are now considered suitable for locking up and the key being thrown away, never again to generate wealth in the many small communities that were built around this renewable and respected resource. Tasmanians are tired of being used as the environmental conscience for inner city Sydney and Melbourne Greens. For the benefit of my city based colleagues: Tasmania is blessed with a magnificent reserve system—something, as Australians, we should all be rightly proud of. In fact, nearly 50 per cent of Tasmania is in national park, World Heritage or formal reserves. We are doing our bit! I should know, as I have been a keen bushwalker all my life. My first introduction to the places that make my state so special was thanks to my father, David, and this interest continued through school. I still enjoy the annual trip to new places off the beaten track, with mates from school—good mates, who have been friends since school. Some of them are here today. Richard Gardner, Michael Hirst, Tim Gunn, Richard Gibson and I have stood on top of the Western Arthurs, Eldon Bluff, Mt Geryon, High Dome, Perrins Bluff and the much maligned and rarely climbed Mt Nereus. I am not a man of strong faith, but it is in these places that I feel I can better understand in a spiritual sense the joy of what it means to be human—but I digress. The point is that Tasmania has sold off or, more correctly, given away so much of the farm that we can no longer pay the bills. Enough, quite frankly, is enough.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Dec 2013 01:42:09 +0000
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