The Liberal Government is getting on with the job of rebuilding the forest industry, which was devastated by the deals done by Labor and the Greens.
Up to 1.5 million tonnes of wood fibre worth as much as $100 million a year in export earnings are available from public and private land in the State's South, but we need a deep-water port if we are to take advantage of this resource.
This is an opportunity that has been there since the Triabunna mill closed and one that could potentially create hundreds of jobs in regional Tasmania.
While we have consistently said we will not pre-empt the outcome of the Parliamentary inquiry into the Triabunna mill site, the fact is that there are limited options to get our product to market.
The Government has asked Forestry Tasmania and TasPorts to investigate port options in Southern Tasmania, and we will quite properly consider this advice and the views of the Parliamentary inquiry before making a decision.
We firmly believe forestry and tourism can co-exist, and it would not be in Tasmania's interests to be so short-sighted as to favour one industry over another. We need both.
Forestry and tourism are thriving together in Europe and other parts of the world. There is no reason they cannot do likewise in Tasmania.