Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES [1.20 a.m.]: Conscious of the fact that it is now 1.20 a.m. I want to make some comments about this very significant issue. Because of the difficulties in this new bill I anticipated that tonight the debate would be of the same proportion as the earlier debate of the Mining and Petroleum Legislation Amendment (Land Access) Bill. I felt there were entrenched differing viewpoints and that I had met those entrenched views. I held discussions with people from the National Parks Association, the forestry workers of the area and some of the mill owners. I spoke with clergy and people concerned with unemployment issues.
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I spoke to some members of local councils from the Riverina and to people such as Mr and Mrs Chris Crump, the timber workers to whom a previous speaker referred. I spoke with assistants who work for the Minister for Climate Change and the Environment, and Minister Assisting the Minister for Health (Cancer), Frank Sartor, and the Premier. I also spoke to Neville Atkinson, who is the chairperson of the Yorta Yorta nation.
In one of those real quirks of fate, my parents owned property on the south side of the same area of the Murray River. I frequently spent many delightful occasions, such as weekends, holidays and so on, in an area that was just outside Echuca along the Murray River and in the red gum forest area. As certain members know well, I was interested in taking rootstock and seeds of river gums. I planted them all round the dam on my property because of my love for that type of timber. Red gum timber is beautiful to work with. I was very interested to see what was going to happen. I discovered in Neville Atkinson a direct descendant of one of my closest friends from Cummeragunja, where as a young person I spent many happy times and where people from the Yorta Yorta nation had a close affinity with birds, animals and the red gum forest.
Unfortunately, this bill literally came into the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council at the last moment. I expected that a very long debate would ensue. However, at this point I do not think a long debate will be necessary. I congratulate a number of organisations and people, including some of those I have mentioned by name, together with staff in political departments who have been working towards consensus on this issue. Although not everybody will be happy with the outcome, some real progress has been made.
Probably there has never been a more compelling case for conservation of a forest area than that for the river red gum forests of south-western New South Wales. Over the years they have been extremely heavily cleared, intensively cultivated and greatly despoiled, not only because of the actions of those who cut timber but also because of the devastating drought. The landscape along our iconic Murray River has been more than 80 per cent cleared of native vegetation. There never has been a more compelling case for forest conservation than in the river red gum forests of south-western New South Wales. They are the last remaining refuges in one of the most heavily cleared and intensively cultivated landscapes in Australia. The landscape along the Murray River has been more than 80 per cent cleared of native vegetation. The Riverina bioregion in New South Wales has less than 2 per cent of its land area in reserves.
As I mentioned, the river red gum trees are severely threatened by water stress that is mostly due to the over-allocation of irrigation water and the interruption of natural flooding regimes. River red gums need floods to propagate, to grow strong and to remain capable of overcoming drought stress. With so many of them showing stress by dropping timber and so many of them dying, the species has reached a very important stage in its future. Many river red gum forests are recognised as internationally significant wetlands. They provide habitat for approximately 69 threatened species. They include the New South Wales portion of the two largest red gum forests that remain in the world—the Millewa, which adjoins Barmah in Victoria, and the Koondrook-Perricoota, which adjoins Gunbower in Victoria.
However, these iconic wetlands currently are being logged and patch clear-felled at a dramatically unsustainable rate. For the information of members who do not understand the difference between logged and patch clear-felled, which is an important difference, I asked the timber cutters to explain their procedures to me. Naturally, they indicated their concerns with over-felling of the area, with its enormous environmental impacts on other parts of the community. The New South Wales Government admits that the forests have been cut at least twice as fast as they can regrow. The logging that is occurring does not have valid legal approval under Federal environmental laws.
The logging produces mostly firewood and railway sleepers. I am desperately saddened that such beautiful fine timber, which can be made into lovely furniture, is burnt or stuck under rail lines. We should have only concrete railway sleepers. Victorian timber cutters basically have decimated the entire area south of the Murray River because they are have cut timber for railway sleepers—and are still doing so—that eventually are destroyed by termites. The timber is so tough that it blunts the termites attack. The timber is very resistant, which is why timber is sourced from river red gum forests. In my younger days when I lived in rural Victoria I would take a trailer and load it with old red gum railway sleepers that the Victorian Railways in those days just did not want and left lying along the banks of railway culverts, et cetera. I would use a Canadian wood splitter to make woodchips. In the area in which I lived the only form of heating for our hot water, the house and the laundry was from a wood-fire stove. The large red gum chips would provide us with brilliant heat.
In latter years I have wondered why on earth we put fine timber under rail lines and burnt it for charcoal, among other wasteful practices. Logging has produced firewood and railway sleepers, which I must admit are sold in Victoria. More than 85 per cent of river red gum ends up in what might be described as bottom-of-the-barrel low-value products. The logging does not even pay its own way. I was surprised to learn during discussions with mill owners that the logging of native forests in New South Wales runs at a loss and must be subsidised by revenue from other areas. River red gum wetlands are the traditional country of a number of indigenous nations. I had the good fortune to speak with some representatives of those nations, particularly the Yorta Yorta people, the Wamba Wamba people, the Mutti Mutti people, the Wadi Wadi people, the Barapa Barapa people and the Wiradjuri people. The traditional owners have never ceded the rights to their land or country to those who clear their forests.
We all remember that in November 2009 the then Premier, Nathan Rees, committed in Parliament to the full and immediate protection of the Millewa forest as a national park, along with protection of other small areas along the upper Murray, Murrumbidgee and Lachlan rivers. I remember that he said it was one of his proudest achievements. In December 2009 the final report of the Natural Resources Commission fully vindicated his decision by recommending the immediate protection of Millewa as part of a world class, cross-border Barmah-Millewa national park. I understand that the national parks decision announced by the Government—I received a copy of the Government’s press release in just the last few minutes—indicates that the decision fully implements the findings of the Natural Resources Commission, which comprises very distinguished people from the environmental, forestry and scientific communities.
That decision protects approximately 107,000 hectares in new reserves immediately, with almost 20,000 hectares earmarked for later transfer to traditional owners in protected indigenous areas. It fully protects the Millewa forest immediately. The Millewa forest and the Barmah National Park in Victoria form the largest red gum forest that remains in the world. It is a living Murray icon—an internationally significant wetland and the heart of the whole Murray floodplain. Millewa contains known habitat for 13 threatened species and three endangered ecological communities. This area has been recognised as the most drought resistant and important environmental refuge in the region. The Natural Resources Commission’s modelling shows that this area most readily can have environmental water delivered and has the best chance of surviving in a water-scarce future.
Millewa forest is in better ecological condition than are many other red gum forests growing in the Riverina and along the Murrumbidgee and Murray rivers because the forests have been saved from destructive patch clear-felling. Tree fellers told me that, out of their concern for the long-term future of the area, they did not clear-fell all the areas they could have.
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I learnt later that much of this was prevented from happening by the National Parks Association, which kept up a running legal battle with mill owners and tree fellers. The decision also protects vital areas along the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers, building a corridor that runs from Kosciuszko to the Coorong. When I chaired a parliamentary select committee inquiry into the Snowy Hydro we heard evidence about the river flows of the Murrumbidgee and the Murray. I listened carefully as the scientists explained the importance of water released from the upper reaches down the Murrumbidgee and Murray rivers in order to sustain the ecological forests in the south-west of the State.
I commend the Government for the important social outcomes arising from this bill. I met with various individuals and representative groups, including concerned citizens, staff working in the employment industry, clergy concerned about the future of members of their congregation, and those concerned with land rights, reconciliation and self-determination for indigenous people. The previous speaker spoke about the sadness that will be felt by people in the area who do not agree with this decision. I believe there are some good outcomes from this bill. The Government’s announcement that it would develop a joint management agreement with the Yorta Yorta traditional owners over the Millewa forest gave the indigenous people a tremendous boost.
Their people will have operative care, control and management of their own country. It will give them opportunities, which they have dreamed about, to share their culture and provide rewarding jobs for young indigenous people. It is an important step forward to bring the Yorta Yorta into management control of the full 70,000 hectares of the cross-border Barmah-Millewa forests. For the first time in the history of New South Wales the State Government will commit a transfer of a State forest directly to indigenous freehold for management as indigenous protected areas. More than 20,000 hectares, from Werai and Taroo, will be handed back to the traditional owners. It is a dramatic step in social justice for indigenous people in the Riverina area.
The Parliamentary Secretary said in her speech that the Government will invest in the Riverina region a total of $97 million, which includes an increase of $17 million for timber industry restructuring and community development. I congratulate the Government on that investment. Some of the people I spoke with, including the mill owners and the tree fellers, were adamant that they had no future. The businesses they were running were not profitable and they depended upon subsidised services to keep operating. This restructure package of $17 million to the timber industry will help them survive a difficult future, a future that would have been much more difficult if nothing had happened. The timber industry, as explained to me by the mill owners and the timber cutters, had been in decline for a long time. Some mills closed in recent years and at least half the mills would have closed in the near future because they were not sustainable. This package will assist the industry in the future. Without it, there would be no financial support for these changes. This decision turns an economically negative situation into a positive one.
The managers of the tourist industry in the area told me that there was a possibility for alternative enterprises. The diversifying of the regional economy will attract new tourists and more jobs. That information came from the people who are running the local tourist industry, not from the Government. When Victoria announced the River Red Gum National Park last year 55 jobs were lost. I am happy to say that since that time 66 full-time jobs have been created. I hope that also occurs on our side of the river. It is an acceptable result from an extremely complex and difficult situation. As late as a week ago, it seemed there would be no harmonious consensus on this issue, no win-win situation. This bill is the best possible outcome.
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In the days since Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) introduced their energy and climate bill proposal, unions, industry groups and other stakeholders have continued to express their views that span an entire spectrum of opinions. 
