Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced an $86 million forestry spend to support Australia’s timber industry and remedy supply shortages by planting 150 million trees.
“We’ve already put in significant resources, particularly after the bushfires, to try and ensure that we’re dealing with some of these shortages” he told Tasmania Talks on Monday, adding it was hitting house price construction across the country.
“What we’re talking about here with new plantations, obviously, is the medium- to long-term future of the industry.”
Morrison would not bite when pushed by radio host Mike O’Loughlin on when the election would be called.
“The election has to be held by about the middle of May; that’s what the constitutional requirements are and the election will be held this year,” the prime minister said.
“My record is to run the government to term.”
Morrison doubled down on the Coalition’s campaign, condemned by senior security figures as doing Beijing’s work for it, to paint Labor as being soft on China.
“It’s not an area where Australians should be unaware of the differences,” the prime minister said.
“We set a high bar for bipartisanship and Labor don’t measure up to it.”
Morrison reiterated demands for answers over the pointing of a laser at an Australian surveillance plane by a Chinese warship in Australia’s exclusive economic zone.
“It could occur to anyone else who is just simply doing the normal surveillance of their own exclusive economic zone. And to be confronted with that, I think, is just absolutely unacceptable,” he said.
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