Legislative Council Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia Legislative Council published Question Time Forestry Industry Forestry Industry The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI Legislative Council Leader of the Opposition Forestry Industry The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:49): Supplementary: can the minister inform the chamber when this grant funding was committed by the federal government? The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN Legislative Council Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development Minister for Forest Industries Forestry Industry The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:50): What I can inform the chamber about is the number of forestry policies that the Liberal government took to the last state election. How many was it? It's a little bit of a theme today. I think it's something along the lines of zero, zilch and none. The Hon. N.J. Centofanti interjecting: The President Legislative Council The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN Legislative Council Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development Minister for Forest Industries The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: I find it quite remarkable that we have interjections saying that we don't have forestry policies. It's quite absolutely incredible. In fact, I would encourage those opposite to read about the suite of forestry policies that we went to the last state election with. Members interjecting: The President Legislative Council The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN Legislative Council Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development Minister for Forest Industries The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: It includes the centre for excellence. It includes replacing fire towers with camera technology. It includes a number of really important projects. I'm so pleased that I have been able to be in the South-East recently talking about the centre for excellence— The Hon. N.J. Centofanti interjecting: The President Legislative Council The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN Legislative Council Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development Minister for Forest Industries The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: Once those opposite have an understanding of forestry policies it would be great for them to come up with some policies of their own, but they went to the election with none. In fact, I remember going to a pre-election event where the then minister who was responsible for forestry didn't turn up—he didn't turn up. He couldn't be bothered to turn up to the South-East for a pre-election event about the forestry industry. He obviously didn't see that this important industry had any bearing whatsoever on our state, but he was given the opportunity to have a pre-record, which he did. We did watch that. I can't pretend it was compelling viewing, but he did send it through. His policies consisted of virtually nothing. By contrast, the then Labor opposition was able to announce our huge suite of policies and a huge suite of investment in terms of forestry policy, in terms of supporting the local industry, in terms of establishing the industry's pathways for years going forward and for generations going forward. We know that those opposite and the former Liberal government had no idea about long-term thinking. That's perhaps why they have an issue with having any knowledge whatsoever of forestry, because of course if we are looking at pine we are looking at a 30-year rotation. If we are looking at blue gum, it's also a significant time, and yet those opposite don't want to think about future generations. They don't want to think about long-term policies, and they clearly have no idea of the policies that we announced prior to the election, which we are already implementing.