Senator CANAVAN (Queensland—Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) (14:23): I thank Senator Rice for her question to the government. I think it is unfortunate that Senator Ruston can't answer the question, because I am sure she would do a much, much better job at it than I. Regardless, I will do my best as the Minister representing the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources. The Australian government supports a strong and vibrant forestry industry in this country. We support the sustainable use of our resources, including our forestry resources, because many more small country towns rely on this industry for their livelihood. It is their lifeblood. Around 60,000 people are employed in this industry and they contribute $24 billion to the economy every year. We are committed to the regional forestry agreements. We do believe they are the best way of balancing the environmental, economic and social demands to ensure the sustainable use of our native forests. We are seeking also to ensure that we meet our election commitment to establish a 20-year rolling life for each regional forest agreement, to provide resource security and a stable investment environment to the forest industry. The PRESIDENT: Senator Rice, on a point of order? Senator Rice: Mr President, I draw the minister's attention to relevance. My question is about whether the government will rule out logging in national parks under the renegotiation of the regional forest agreements. The PRESIDENT: Senator Rice, you've taken the opportunity to remind the minister of the question. I take the opportunity to respond that the minister took a question that was directed to someone who was not appropriate to have a question directed to them at question time. Senator Canavan. Senator CANAVAN: I also note that there was a long preamble in that question which called into question the worth of a forestry industry in this country. I'm happy to stand up here and say that we do support those jobs, we do support that industry and, of course, we do support appropriate regulation to ensure the sustainable use of our forests. That's why we support the regional forestry agreements. That's why we want to continue to invest in them and ensure there is a 20-year rolling life for each regional forestry investment that will provide sufficient security to the forestry industry, as well as make sure that we protect the environment over the long term. The PRESIDENT: Before I call you, Senator Rice, I'll clarify the ruling I made earlier. Assistant ministers are parliamentary secretaries under the Ministers of State Act. They cannot have questions directed to them at question time. There may be some confusion, because there was a period of time in 2013 when some ministers of state under the act were titled 'assistant ministers'. But anyone who is a parliamentary secretary under that act can't have a question directed to them at question time. Do you have a supplementary question to Minister Canavan?