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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-10-16 Daily Xml
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FORESTRYSA

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:27): By way of supplementary question as a result of the minister's failed attempt to answer—and I will repeat the third question.

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Ridgway will ask his supplementary without comment.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: What is the annual shortfall between the money ForestrySA gets for its services to OneFortyOne Plantations and its other forestry operations and what it actually costs to provide that service?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:27): All of that information is in the budget documents and annual report.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: No, it's not.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Well, it is. This is chapter 5 of government business, Budget Statement 2013-14, page 95. The information is there on the public record—it's there in black and white.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: Tell me the shortfall—tell me, tell me what the shortfall is. If it's there—you read through another document you had, but you can't read that!

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Such a lazy opposition! It's pathetic!

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: You spent the whole hour reading from that, now you won't read that much.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: It's pathetic, Mr President.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: Grow up!

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: I have even given him the page number, page 95. It's a waste of this chamber's time, it is a total waste of this chamber's time—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: No, it's not—put it on the record.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: —a total waste of this chamber's time to be reading out budget documents that are on the public record. The reality is that the Hon. David Ridgway is not able to read a budget document, so he can't actually read this page 95 and understand what these figures are. He has no idea! It is there in black and white. Indeed, there is a shortfall, which is clearly documented on page 95, but the Hon. David Ridgway clearly can't read, can't understand, and clearly he didn't know it was there, otherwise he would not embarrass himself to come into this place.

During estimates, it was fascinating: the opposition only asked questions about the PIRSA forestry. They actually didn't ask any budgetary questions about ForestrySA. What an embarrassment! What an absolute embarrassment! The opposition didn't even know those budget documents existed. They failed to even know that those budget documents existed. Not one question on them, not one question! They are a disgrace of an opposition, an absolute disgrace. So, they need to get off their tail and look at what is on the public record. There is a shortfall, and there has been a shortfall in those forests for many years. There has been a shortfall—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: There hasn't been a shortfall because we've had forest products to sell every year.

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: The Hon. David Ridgway is again wrong, embarrassingly so. He has no idea what's going on, he doesn't understand how the industry works and he can't read a budget paper—how embarrassing!

There have been shortfalls there in the past in relation to our Mid North and Mount Lofty forests. They are small forests. There has been a downturn in forestry products and those forests have been influenced by that, so there is a shortfall. We haven't hidden it; it's there on page 95. It is clearly there for everyone to see—anyone who can read a budget document.

The Hon. R.I. Lucas: You obviously can't.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Yes, I can read it. I know exactly what it is.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: No, you are a disgrace. You are an embarrassment. I am going to make you go to this document that's been there—

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS: Point of order.

The PRESIDENT: There is a point of order. The Hon. Mr Dawkins, do you have a point of order?

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS: I think the minister has been here long enough to know that, when she refers to 'you', she is referring to you, Mr President—

The PRESIDENT: That's true.

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS: —and I don't think that the President is a disgrace in any sense.

The PRESIDENT: Hear, hear! I notice that there are some children in the gallery who are much better behaved than most honourable members in this place. Welcome; we are not normally like this. Minister, you have got the call and I am out of order.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Also, these forests contain some of our public open forests that are not commercial operations: they are fabulous forests there for the public to enjoy. Those forests cost us money to maintain. We have little cabins and things like that there for people to come and enjoy.

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Dawkins will come to order!

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: So, those forests are very important to us. We have recently assigned an export arrangement in relation to one of those forests. As our dollar has improved, so too have our opportunities for improving our export of log products, so there are some very positive signs on the horizon that things are improving and that we should receive a better return in the future for these forests. But they will go up and down and, at the moment, they are down. Like all the forestry, it is at a fairly low spot but, as I said, there are some positive things on the horizon that would indicate that, hopefully in the future, we are going to do better.

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