Press conference in Launceston with CEO Andrew Walker, Brian Mitchell and Janie Finlay

SUBJECTS: Tasmanian agriculture and forestry industries; Government support for sustainable native forestry industry; risk of floods on the east coast; federal investment in forestry; skills shortage; Deloraine racecourse upgrade; foot and mouth disease preparedness; lumpy skin disease; biosecurity; stage 3 tax cuts

ANDREW WALKER, NEVILLE SMITH FOREST PRODUCTS: I’m Andrew Walker, CEO, Neville Smith Forest Products. I would like to welcome everyone here today, in particular Federal Minister Senator Murray Watt for coming along to our business. Neville Smith Forest Products has been operating in Tasmania since 1924. We are one of the largest processors of solid timber products in Australia supplying wood to the Australian domestic market for house building and also the pallet sector.
I’d like to welcome everyone along today, and I’d like to introduce federal Member for Lyons Brian Mitchell to say a few words.

BRIAN MITCHELL, MEMBER FOR LYONS: Thanks Andrew. I’m a little bit out of my electorate, of course – we’re in the seat of Bass. But Lyons has a lot of forestry in it, and I’m a big supporter of the forestry industry and all the wonderful products that it produces.

I’m joined here today by Senator Murray Watt, the Minister for Agriculture, my Senate colleague Anne Urquhart and our state colleagues Shane Broad and Janie Finlay. And I would like to welcome everybody here today.

Senator Watt is here to learn a bit more about Tasmanian agriculture and Tasmanian forestry and the great work that it does and the great contributor it is to the Tasmanian economy. And as I’ve said for many years, the future is better with forestry in it. Forestry product have a big place in our lives, and the more that we can get, the better off we are. It’s a renewable product and there are fantastic jobs in this industry. It’s a really well run sector, and I think Senator Watt has been very impressed with what he’s seen so far. But I’ll hand over to him.

MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FORESTRY: Thanks very much, Brian. It’s great to be with you and Anne, my federal colleagues, in the north of Tasmania, and even better to be joined by Shane and Janie, some of our great state Labor representatives in this area as well.

Can I thank Andrew and his team, including the workers that we’ve just met here at Neville Smith Forest Products, especially because it’s an RDO today? That might explain why things are a little bit quieter than you normally see them in a sawmill, but we’re particularly grateful that you’ve showed us around today and hope you enjoy the rest of the RDO once we finish up here.

As Brian was saying, this is the second day in my first visit to Tasmania as a new minister in the Albanese Government, and it was really important to me to make sure that, this side of Christmas, I managed to get to every state and territory as the Minister to get a better understanding firsthand of the real challenges and opportunities that face the sector in every part of the country.

And I have to say, having spent yesterday particularly travelling up from Hobart through the east coast and ending up here in Launceston, I’m incredibly impressed by what I’m seeing in the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector. Over the course of this two days we will have met with apple and cherry growers, with people from the fisheries industry. We’ve met a wide range of growers this morning and producers this morning, particularly through the state peak body. And, of course, no visit to Tasmania in the agriculture sector is complete without being involved in the forestry industry.
I want to make one thing really clear and that is that Anthony Albanese and our Government fully support the sustainable native forestry industry right here in Tasmania. We said it before the election and we’re serious about delivering on our commitments now that we have been elected to be the government of Australia.

And it’s not just words from us; we made a number of commitments running up to the election about investments that we would make in the forestry industry, not just in Tasmania but right across the country. And with the Federal Budget now only two or three weeks away, I know that I, Brian, Anne and all of our federal team here in Tasmania are lobbying hard to make sure that this budget delivers on those commitments to the forestry sector.

The reason we’re doing it is because we believe in the sustainable native forestry industry right here in Tasmania and right across our country. It’s an incredibly important source of employment in regional areas in Tasmania. It’s an incredibly important source of export dollars for our country. And more than anything, it’s an incredibly important source of the timber that we need as a country going forward.

Now I’ve got a bit of a personal stake in this because I’m finally getting to the end of a very long-running home renovation, and I’m like many people around the country who are experiencing long delays in their renovations, and that’s because we know as a country we’ve had a skills shortage and we’ve had a supply shortage, including in areas like timber. And it’s companies like Neville Smith Forest Products and the workers here who are helping to solve those shortages.

What we want to do as a new government is really increase the level of innovation and efficiency that we’re seeing in the industry. We know that there’s no endless supply of timber around the country and we’ve got to make sure that we use every bit of a timber log and harness its full value. And I was really impressed to see that this company has a zero-waste policy so every bit of timber is used for some purpose, whether it be for building materials, for pallet-making or even for supplying some of the pellets that people use in their fireplaces and for their smoking of meats and things like that. And that’s the kind of attitude that we want to bring to this industry, harnessing the full value of every log, creating jobs along the way, and that's what I expect that you'll see in some of the commitments that we intend to back in at the Budget this year.

One of the other things I just wanted to mention is that I want to really praise this company and other companies that are making serious investments in plantations, particularly in hardwood. We know, again, that we’re going to need hardwood timbers for some time to come, and we do need to produce that in a sustainable manner. And this company and others like it are leading the way nationally in not just providing softwood plantations but hardwood plantations as well.

We did make a commitment leading up to the election that we want to expand Australia’s plantation estate. We’re going to need more logs in the future. We’re going to need more timber in the future and we need to do it in a sustainable way. So we intend to make policy changes compared to the last Government that will encourage more plantation timber, and we’re actually going to put our money where our mouth is and back in this industry and back in the jobs in it.

I might just invite Janie on behalf of the state team to say a few words. But we’re happy to take questions after that.

JANIE FINLAY, TASMANIAN SHADOW MINISTER FOR PRIMARY INDUSTRIES AND WATER: Thank you Minister. On behalf of Shadow Treasurer Shane Broad and myself, it’s been great to have Minister Watt in Tasmania. We’ve touched almost every corner of this great state and visited the productive industries of Tasmania, which we all know are punching way above their weight. It’s been great to be here this morning with Andrew and his team to see another business here in northern Tasmania in our electorate of Bass taking on both nationally and internationally being best in their class at what they do here and being recognised for that.

It's great to meet with the team that are providing that productivity to ensure the best outcomes here for forestry in Tasmania. And there’s no doubt that Tasmanian Labor, along with our federal colleagues, are really going to back in all those industries that support and produce the productivity for Tasmania, for our economy but, most importantly, for our families and the workers.
One of the best things about our productive industries in Tasmania - it supports regional Tasmanians right across the state. And having Murray Watt in town over the last two days, we’ve been across on the water on the east coast, we’ve been down into the Huon Valley. We’ve spoken to people from the far north west, and it’s really exciting for us to have a minister in here who has just said he’s going to put his money where his mouth is and actually get into action for Tasmanians. It’s great to be on the ground listening, and we’ve met with so many people across these last two days. There’s going to be much more to come with Minister Watt revisiting Tasmania, but getting into action and supporting those productive industries in Tasmania is very important to Tasmanian Labor and federal Labor. And we’re going to back in our Tasmanian families and our workers as much as we can. Thank you. 

MURRAY WATT: Any questions?

JOURNALIST: Can you outline any investments your government will be making towards forestry businesses in the state?

MURRAY WATT: Sure. Just before I directly answer you, I might also just put my other hat on as the federal Emergency Management Minister and recognise that we are looking at some pretty serious weather across the country over the next few days, including here in Tasmania. I’ve been briefed again this morning by our federal emergency management team about the situation, and particularly in New South Wales but other parts of the east coast as well. Particularly from this weekend we are looking at some pretty serious weather rainfall. Now, we know that much of the east coast of the country is already very wet because of rainfall that we’ve seen in recent months, and there is a high risk that we’re going to be facing more flooding over the next few days.
So can I ask all home owners, wherever they live, whether it be in Tasmania or right up and down the east coast in particular, to please stay abreast of the warnings that are going to be made. We don’t want to see any loss of life from these floods, and we want to make sure that people get early information about what’s coming.
I know from discussions that we’ve been having, particularly with the New South Wales Government, that a lot of work is being done to pre-deploy resources so that we are ready. Ever since our government was elected what we said is that we wanted to be better prepared for our natural disasters than what we saw from the previous Government, and that work has been happening. But, please, listen to the warnings over the course of this weekend, because there could be some pretty serious rain.

To answer your question in terms of forestry, we went to the election with commitments over $200 million to invest in the forestry industry, and that was by partly expanding the National Institute for Forest Products that has a base here in Launceston. We want to expand its work particularly around the innovation and efficiency that we’re seeing in the industry.

But we also want to be investing in skills in this industry. What we know is that every industry around Australia is suffering from a skills shortage, and forestry is one of them. The discussions that I’ve had over the last couple of days make clear that that’s an issue here in Tasmania as well. So we went to the election with a commitment for $10 million in funding to increase skills and opportunities for workers. It was terrific to meet the National Apprentice of the Year in the timber industry right here at Neville Smith Forest Products, Gary. He’s exactly the kind of person that we want to be encouraging to work in the industry and stay in the industry.

So with federal investment in skills, that will really help meet some of those skills shortages. And, as I say, the other part of what we’re hoping to do is to really expand the plantation estate. There’s tens of millions of dollars that we committed to invest in that heading into the election, and we now intend to deliver on. But we’re also making changes to regulatory rules and things like that to encourage more plantation estate as well.

So you’ll have to wait until you get the Federal Budget to get the full details, but we’re, as I say, working hard to make sure we deliver on those commitments as soon as possible.

JOURNALIST: You also met with salmon industry representatives. Do you support salmon expansion [indistinct]?

MURRAY WATT: Yes, I do. Federal Labor supports the salmon industry. We support it being done in a sustainable manner. The reality is that there is growing demand for salmon and other seafood products here in Australia and also overseas. And Tasmania is very well placed to deliver on that demand.
Of course, the industry needs to conduct itself in a sustainable manner, and much of the discussions that I’ve had while I’ve been in Tasmania with representatives of the fisheries and aquaculture industry is about what more they are doing and what more they can do to improve the sustainability and transparency of their operations.

I think that industry understands that it needs a social licence to operate. There have been examples in the past where the industry hasn’t met community standards. They have been putting in a lot of work to meet those standards, and I’m keen to work with them, as I know my colleagues are as well, to make sure that happens.

JOURNALIST: Some environmental groups and anti-fish farm groups are disappointed you didn’t meet with them. Will you speak to them or meet with them at some stage?

MURRAY WATT: Look, I’m happy to meet with anyone who’s got a view on any industry in Tasmania. The reality is that these groups hadn’t approached me to meet with me before I came to Tasmania, and it’s a bit hard to put things into a schedule at the last minute. But I’m certainly happy as part of future visits to engage with anyone about the future of these industries.

JOURNALIST: Do you think you’ve only got one side of the debate then, meeting with industry representatives?

MURRAY WATT: No, as I say – I said this yesterday in a press conference as well – I thought it was pretty important as a first step to come and inspect the industries for myself, whether it be forestry, fisheries, aquaculture or anything else. And having done that I’ve got a better sense of some of the challenges facing the industry.
I’m well aware that there are a range of views about the future of the aquaculture industry here in Tasmania. I’ve been briefed on those both by my department and also by other federal Members. And, as I say, I’m more than happy to meet with a range of groups in future visits to Tasmania.

JOURNALIST: There’s calls for the Government to guarantee that projects like the Deloraine racecourse upgrade are fulfilled. Is that something that can be guaranteed?

MURRAY WATT: I reckon I should let the local Member have a say about that, because I reckon he’s all over that.

BRIAN MITCHELL: Thank you, Minister. So the Deloraine racecourse and the project there - I’m the local Member and I back it. Of course I do. I think it’s a great project. For every entreaty I’ve made to the relevant ministers of course is met with, ‘wait till the October budget’. Most – a lot of decisions by former government are under review and we all know the reasons why. You know, some of the programs that they undertook didn’t pass the pub test. So we’re basically reviewing a lot of decisions. I back that decision. I’ve backed the review. But I’ll know after the Budget whether we’ve got that project underway. I certainly hope we do as the local Member. I think it’s a great project. I back it a hundred per cent. But we’ll know after the budget.

JOURNALIST: What’s happening with the risk of foot and mouth disease reaching Australia?

MURRAY WATT: Well as we all know, and as has been reinforced to me, the discussions I’ve had with beef and dairy farmers while I’ve been in Tasmania, foot and mouth disease and lumpy skin disease are really serious risks to our livestock industry. The latest figures that we still have are in the order of about a twelve per cent risk of a foot and mouth disease outbreak in Australia over the next five years, but a significantly higher risk of lumpy skin disease, which is a disease affecting cattle. And that’s why we’re taking such a strong position on these biosecurity issues.

Under the Albanese Government we now have the strongest response from any Australian government to a biosecurity threat in our nation’s history. We’ve had a three-pronged approach for dealing with this; first of all supporting Indonesia by providing vaccines and technical expertise to help them get their outbreak under control. Secondly, increasing and strengthening our measures at our border, so employing more biosecurity officers, detector dogs, fining people who are doing the wrong thing. And, thirdly, we’re making sure that we’re prepared as well. So, as Minister, I appointed a new taskforce to have a really good look at whether we are fully prepared for an outbreak if one were to occur in Australia. And I was pleased to receive their report recently which indicated that by and large we are prepared. There are things that we can tweak and improve, and we’re now putting that underway. But this is a serious risk and we’re taking it seriously, and that’s why, as I say, we’re putting in place the strongest biosecurity response any Australian government has ever implemented.

JOURNALIST: You touched on it, but are you satisfied with the response at Australia’s borders by passengers returning from Indonesia?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, I am. The reports that I’m getting from the Department are that there’s essentially a hundred per cent compliance by passengers with the foot mats that we’ve installed at every international airport in Australia that is receiving direct flights from Indonesia. I recently returned from Bali myself and I walked through those foot mats and I was pleased to see all the other passengers doing the same thing.

And what we’re also doing is risk profiling every single passenger who is returning from Indonesia to ensure – to check whether they’re a potential risk and then referring people off for more intensive screening.

There’s been a lot of focus on the risks of travellers bringing foot and mouth disease back into the country, particularly on shoes and clothing. But as I said before, the biggest risk of this disease coming into Australia is actually through animal products being brought into the country or mailed in. That’s why you might have seen we’ve come down hard on people who’ve tried to bring sausage and egg McMuffins back into the country, as a small example but an important one.
But what we’re also doing is physically inspecting every single mail package that comes into the country from Indonesia and we have now banned the importation of meat for personal consumption from every country in the world that has foot-and-mouth disease.

So, as I say, these are measures that no Australian government has ever undertaken. And I’m confident that they will do everything we possibly can to keep this disease out.

JOURNALIST: Is Australia’s biosecurity system adequately funded?

MURRAY WATT: We went to the election saying that we would deliver a long-term sustainable funding package for Australia’s biosecurity system because I think the reality is that in recent years the funding for biosecurity has not been where it needs to be.

The way I’ve described this previously is that biosecurity is a bit of a wall to keep diseases out of the country. And unfortunately under the last government we did see some cracks in that wall start to appear that weren’t being dealt with. So what we’re trying to do, both through extra funding which we’ve already started delivering, and extra tightening of regulatory measures, we’re trying to close those gaps in the wall while also making that wall even stronger and even bigger.

So we’re taking these issues really seriously. We’ve already announced I think it’s around $20 million in extra funding to tighten our biosecurity system, and I’m lobbying for even more to come hopefully in this year’s Budget.

JOURNALIST: Will the Government commit to the stage three tax cuts?

MURRAY WATT: Well, our position on this issue hasn’t changed. We all understand – I think all Australians understand - that the Federal Budget is under incredible strain. We are a trillion billion dollars in debt as a result of the last government’s wasteful spending. And at some point we’ve got to get that under control. And that’s why we’re having hard discussions and hard decisions about what we’re going to fund in this year’s Budget. But on the tax cuts issue our position hasn’t changed.