Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I thank Mr. White and his team here today. I will be brief and just make some points. I do not really want to ask any questions because Mr. White has made abundantly clear his absolute frustration and anger, which are justifiable and understandable. He has got the message over clearly again. I note this is his fifth presentation to the committee on forestry issues generally. In his opening statement he apologised but he does not need to apologise. We are here to listen and to advocate for him and do our best for him. I want to reassure him of that and say that on behalf of all of the committee.

Mr. White touched on the issue of confidence and the shortcomings of the sector. Why would anyone tuned into this meeting tonight want to get into forestry after hearing the litany of issues Mr. White spoke about? Of particular concern is the dead plantations and they are excluded from the scheme. What a crazy situation.

I hear his call on these issues, as do we all. He says there has been mismanagement by Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and its forest service, which is illustrated by its failure to achieve a significant increase in afforestation despite stated Government policy objectives. I fully concur. He also says the numbers employed in the forestry industry have fallen in the past two years from 12,000 to 8,000. What is the basis of those figures?