Page 4681 - Week 12 - Thursday, 1 November 2018
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lower environmental standards and/or lower food safety standards. This is one of the other messes left behind by the generation of neoliberalism that dominated our economies and has resulted in low wage growth and greater wealth inequality—an issue that we will no doubt return to for many years to come.
Now that those across the lake have installed a nice fence on their roof, maybe they should consider returning to the days of grazing on Capital Hill. If they object to the metaphors that having bulls on their roof would create, perhaps sheep, or releasing a few farmed kangaroos into the nation’s top paddock, would suffice.
Primary industry covers a lot more than food, though. The ACT also has a plantation timber industry. This industry contributes to environmental sustainability. Plantation timber used in construction is an important form of carbon sequestration. That is a good word, isn’t it, on the Thursday afternoon of a double sitting week? Carbon sequestration is maximised in trees between the ages of 10 and 30. After this time the rate of sequestration drops as forests reach maturity. Our plantation timber is highly carbon positive, and the ACT parks and conservation service does an excellent job of planning and managing harvesting rotation to ensure that we get the most benefit.
Timber is a renewable resource, used for construction and many other industries. Having local product reduces the financial and carbon cost of transportation, and I hope to see this industry continue as a source of construction materials and employment.
In my preparation for today’s speech, I also took the opportunity to review the plans and goals for the way our plantations interact with the urban area and Canberra people. Forests were not regrown after 2003 in ways that would impact the urban environment in case of fire, and extensive work has been done to allow recreational uses of forests for mountain biking, motorsport, orienteering and a range of other functions and festivals. This is good stuff. Whilst Minister Gentleman needs no encouragement to engage in motorsport, I would encourage everyone else to take the many opportunities to use our forests recreationally.
Finally, I would like to single out our local viticulture industry. The ACT makes some very nice wine. A couple of months ago I had the great pleasure of attending the Canberra and Region Wine Show. As someone who enjoys the odd glass of wine, but, as I said to Michael Kennedy, president of the Royal National Capital Agricultural Society, only Canberra region wines, being part of the Canberra and Region Wine Show was awesome. As Michael said, in a letter thanking me for coming along:
As Canberrans we can be proud of the depth and range of quality wineries in the Canberra region which hold their own in national and international competitions.
Well, I agree. Canberra region wines are easily some of the best in Australia and the world. I enjoy sharing them with family and friends at every opportunity. Although I mainly enjoy a glass of pinot gris, the Canberra region is home to some of the best rieslings, as well as some fantastic red wines like shiraz. In fact, some of the winners on the night of the Canberra and Region Wine Show included Capital Wines, Clonakilla—and how can you not mention, as Ms Cheyne did, Mount Majura, our
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