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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 1 Hansard (16 February) . . Page.. 167 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

The final point relates to the exclusion of woodchipping of non-plantation forests. Bob Carr, in previous elections, has made commitments to exclude woodchipping from old growth areas of forest. This proposal put by Ms Tucker is certainly consistent with that position put by the New South Wales Labor Government.

I have moved an amendment simply to insert the word "progressively" in front of that sentence at point (c). The reason is that the transition from industries which are clearly no longer environmentally sustainable has to be done in a way which takes into account the impact on the industry itself and the people employed in it. It would occur in practice anyway. We feel that that would just clarify our view in relation to woodchipping in non-plantation forests.

The Labor Party is pleased to support this proposal today. It has done so after very careful consideration. I hope the Government does the same and does not choose to play politics with it because, at the end of the day, it is an area not only of great significance in the minds of Canberrans - those who enjoy its nature beauty throughout the year - but also of considerable significance because it is one of the last large untouched areas of coastal forest and rainforest anywhere in Australia.

MR STEFANIAK (Minister for Education) (12.17): I have considerable sympathy for some of the motives and some parts of what Ms Tucker is on about. In a number of my capacities, I have had the pleasure to go through a lot of the area that she talks about. There are some magnificent natural sights in the area.

Owning a tiny bit of the far south coast myself, albeit only about 25 acres which butts onto a state forest and has quite a few trees, I agree with some of the points she raises about the ecosystem and old forests. I get particularly upset when I go down to my few acres and I see a gum tree has fallen over, especially a large old one. One on the far northern boundary fell over in two stages - one big lot came off and then sadly, six months later, the other part fell. It was also disturbing because it wrecked part of the fence line. Underneath the tree was home to a wombat. I am pleased to say the wombat is still there. It is a delight, certainly for my two young children, to see creatures such as wombats close up. We have at least one on the property.

Another part of the ecosystem are the possums - they are a bit of a pest here but in their natural habitat possums are also wonderful for young children. We have a particularly friendly one. At about 9 o'clock each night it will come up to the shack and want food. It has got rather large. We have been down there a bit over Christmas and it is one of the biggest possums I have ever seen. I am thinking of nicknaming it Bargearse. It is wonderful to see what occurs in a native forest.

The only hassle I have there is some of the introduced species such as foxes, although I have yet to catch one. My colleague Mr Smyth has indicated a device which might assist. Apart from that, it truly is remarkable what occurs in a native forest.

However, we have had some successful instances of sustainable development of forests in the past. I was just talking again to my colleague Mr Smyth, who reminded me of what occurred in the Brindabellas. There are some examples there where old growth

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