Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

He didn't take my call and he never returned it. I called him on the night. A good colleague of mine from Victoria provided me with his mobile number. I've still got it. But he never returned my call. I'm still waiting. I don't expect I will get the return call. I don't know who or on what planet you'd have to be to think that Daniel Andrews is going to return a Tasmanian Liberal senator's phone call.

He wasn't going to, because he had no ability to justify what he was doing and, of course, he didn't care, as demonstrated by the fact that they have brought forward their decision in Victoria to shut down native forestry seven years ahead of schedule, with seven months notice. 'Hey, forestry contractors, you know the millions of dollars you owe on your equipment that you've got long-term finance and lease agreements in place with? We do not care about that. And you can find a way out of this mess yourselves'—that's the nature of the arrangement we see in this country.

The documents that were provided in response to this order for the production of documents make it very clear to the government that—and I'm quoting from these documents—'Australia's plantation estate is not able to replace the type and quality of wood produced from native forests.' This is not some made-up document; this is advice to government from people from the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment who understand what they're doing. Those who disagree with this advice seek to besmirch those who provide the advice—the independent, frank and fearless public servants in this country with whom I have worked. They're not wholly owned subsidiaries of industry; they are public servants who do a good job and provide accurate advice to government. This is the advice that they provided to government, which has been ignored, which is of great concern to me.

It outlines the concerns that many industry participants and the union movement have around the eligibility criteria that the Western Australian government have put in place for their transition package. The CFMMEU Manufacturing Division is not supporting either the WA or the Victorian government decisions to end native forest harvesting and is critical of the support—something that again has fallen on deaf ears. There's a note in the minister's speaking notes that he looks forward to discussing these decisions with his state counterparts in the near future. This was in an address that he gave to the CFMMEU.

The documents go on to highlight a range of concerns the minister should be aware of. They advised him to seek an understanding from the Western Australian minister of how the Western Australian government intended to deal with increased bushfire risk. This is something we have touched on but have not properly acknowledged. When you shut down management of a particular type of land, especially forests, you know what happens—you lock it up and throw away the key, fuel loads build up, and the chance and prospect of wildfires are vastly increased. To add to that problem, forestry contractors, who, with their equipment, not only manage the forests but assist in fighting fires, are no longer there. They've packed up and left town. They've probably declared bankruptcy, because of the haste with which the government is moving in Western Australia and, indeed, in Victoria.

Of course, the document does state that the Australian government does not support the WA decision to end native forestry by 2024. Normally, when we don't support a particular course of action, we take action to do something else. I'm struggling to see where, in any of these documents or in any element of what the government has responded to my concerns with, the government have taken action to deal with this, to stand up for the workers who are going to be left out on a rock, like a shag, with nowhere to go, no prospect, no future. As others already said in the previous debate on my matter of urgency, which Labor and the Greens teamed up to vote against, footy clubs will fold, schools will close, the hearts of communities in regional Australia are going to be ripped out as a result of this. We are going to see tumbleweed blowing down the streets of these towns. That is not something to be proud of; that is something to be ashamed of. That's not the vision I have for the future of our country, particularly in regional Australia, tumbleweed blowing down the streets of these once beautiful and proud regional towns. But that what's we're going to have—tumbleweed! That's their response to what is a sustainable industry.

We were promised that this government would usher in a new age and era of transparency. The documents I have don't provide any detail around what the government intends to do. There's a lot of black ink in here, I might add. There are pages of black ink on something I thought was pretty innocuous and something the government says they stand behind me on. But there's no transparency, there's no plan for jobs and there's no plan to assist with the cost of living. And, you know what? It's going to make it bloody hard to pay bills when you don't have a job. That's what the Labor Party is doing to forestry workers across the country. I tell you what; it's something I'm going to be watching very closely—less tumbleweed; more jobs.