Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Education) Share this | Hansard source

There are members of the crossbench and the Labor Party itself who live in the most privileged parts of our suburbs and are actually campaigning today to sack workers with some of the lowest incomes in the nation in regional Australia. People and wildlife die in poorly managed forests. The plan to shut down the native hardwood timber industry is a plan to kill country towns, wildlife and Australian jobs.

Last year the Prime Minister, after speaking at the Australian Forest Products Association dinner in Canberra, tweeted:

We want a thriving and a sustainable timber industry.

One that provides jobs and drives down our emissions for years to come.

But, Prime Minister, it's not good enough to just tweet. Families in my community are losing their jobs today, and you've done absolutely nothing to help them. Not one Labor member opposite has done anything to help Victorian timber workers who are facing the sack under Dan Andrews's mad plan for the timber industry. When did the Labor Party become so gutless? Why won't any of you stand up to Dan Andrews?

You've found your voice now—say one thing back in your community! You're too gutless to talk in the community. There's no environmental science whatsoever. It's all about political science. The old Labor Party would stand up and fight for blue-collar workers. The new Labor Party sits there meekly and sells out blue-collar jobs for Greens preferences—their mates in the city.

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