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

I have risen many times in this place to raise my concerns about the Victorian government's politically motivated decision to ban the harvesting of native hardwood timber in the state of Victoria. This decision to introduce a ban from 2030 was made in 2019. Apart from the fact that this was a decision based purely on political science, not environmental science, what the Victorian government then did earlier this year was bring forward that ban to 1 January 2024, giving the industry less than seven months to adjust to the announcement. The social, economic, environmental and cultural impacts on a region like Gippsland, as a direct result of this appalling decision, are now being felt across my electorate of Gippsland.

Deputy Speaker Wilkie, as you will understand, you have two choices when it comes to timber: you either use your own wood in a sustainable way or you use someone else's wood, because demand for timber is growing in our cities and will continue to grow. What Victoria is doing now is taking timber from other states—including your state of Tasmania and from New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory—and taking timber from foreign countries with lower environmental protocols and shipping it to Victoria for use in the city areas.

Those opposite, the Labor Party—particularly the Victorian Labor Party members—come into this place and demand action on climate emissions and demand action on environmental issues and then are happy to sit back and see timber shipped around the world, with higher emissions to deliver that timber to Victoria, and are happy to see timber taken from countries with lower environmental protocols but not happy to see a world-class and sustainable industry in their own state. The hypocrisy of Labor members, both state and federal, beggars belief until you understand that they are not the old Labor Party—this is a new Labor Party. The old Labor Party knew what they stood for. The old Labor Party stood up for blue-collar workers. The old Labor Party stood up for people who did an honest day's work and wanted to make sure that they got a fair day's pay as a result.

This new Labor Party, particularly in Melbourne and other urban areas, is obsessed with Green preferences. They're obsessed with selling out blue-collar workers to secure Green preferences in those city areas. The blue-collar workers in Victoria and across the nation know it. You only need to track Labor's vote amongst blue-collar workers in the opinion polls, you only need to look at the La Trobe Valley, in my own electorate of Gippsland, which used to be a powerhouse for the Labor Party and for blue-collar workers voting Labor, and you only need to see the way that those voters have just abandoned the Labor Party to understand that the workers can see straight through this new Labor Party. They know they're being sold out for Green preferences, and they know their jobs are being sold out because they simply don't matter to the new Labor Party.

The hypocrisy is something that really is sickening to watch for communities like mine. Keep in mind that Victoria has had a sustainable timber industry for decades. Victoria stopped the harvesting of old-growth forests a long time ago—and quite rightly so. All the high conservation value areas of forest in Victoria are already protected in reserve systems. What the industry was seeking to do was to continue an industry based on a regenerated model and a sustainable harvesting model, where the timber, which is being harvested today and has been harvested previously—probably 60 or 70 years ago—is then replanted for future generations to have the benefit of that timber.

There is no-one in Victoria who doesn't support plantation timber as well, but we have to understand that plantation timber only fills part of the market. The softwood pine plantations fill part of the market. The hardwood timber from our native timber industry, harvested in a sustainable way, is a cornerstone of furniture making and high-value products in housing and, obviously, things like basketball court flooring. If we don't grow our own timber in Victoria, we will take it from other states and we will take it from overseas.

The reason I continue to raise this issue here in the federal parliament of Australia is that it is a national issue. This is a security of supply chain issue. We saw during COVID just how fragile our supply chains were. We cannot rely on imports for critical products like those from our timber industry. Keep in mind that we have a trade deficit in wood products already in this state. What the Victoria Labor Party has done in banning the native hardwood timber industry is ensure that we continue to have a trade deficit and rely on foreign countries and other states to supply our timber products.

The failure of those opposite to raise a single word of protest when this was introduced by Dan Andrews is only made worse by the change of leadership, with a new premier. They continue to go down this illogical and senseless path of destroying communities like Gippsland for the sake of Green preferences. (Time expired)