Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I'm talking about the Victorian forestry industry and what's happened in recent times in the state of Victoria in the magnificent, sustainable, world-class forestry industry. What the Andrews Labor government has done in Victoria in recent days is devastating. Our regional communities are so dependent on a number of industries, forestry being one of them, and Daniel Andrews and his cabinet have decided that native forest harvesting—something that we do better than most other countries in the world—is an industry that they, as a state, do not want to be a part of anymore. It's a very bad decision for regional communities. Nearly 5,000 jobs directly out of the native-forest harvesting sector are in Victoria. There will be $300 million of economic activity ripped out of regional communities in Victoria every year because of a decision by a government to abandon a particular part of our forestry industry.

For those listening, there are two parts to our forestry industry in terms of the trees we harvest. We have plantation, which forms the great majority of timber harvested in this country, and we also have native forests. They are different types of timber, producing different types of goods. It's important to emphasise that out of native forest harvesting, we still have demand for our product—for the appearance-grade timber that we get out of native forest harvesting. And communities like this now have to start thinking about their future. The sawmills geared up to harvest, mill and produce products out of native forest timber now need to think about what they're going to do, given the Labor government has sold them out. It's a decision that's more about politics than it is about policy. It ignores completely the growing demand globally and domestically for our wonderful, sustainable, environmentally friendly native forest products, which come out of our well-managed, beautiful native forests.

Regional communities, as I say, are dependent on this industry, amongst others. And it's something that I and this government—the Morrison government—will stand up for. We condemn the decision by the Andrews government to shut down native forest harvesting in Victoria. It's something that we hope they see sense in and look to reverse rather than pushing ahead pig-headedly, not listening to what the community has to say. As a Tasmanian, I know only too well what happens when the Greens get near the levers of power, and I think that is the case in Victoria. The Andrews government, worried about what's going to happen in its inner-city seats, is pandering to Green minorities in downtown Melbourne, rather than going out and listening to the people whose livelihoods depend on this industry. They're selling them out to make sure that when the next election rolls around, they will get those preferences from those Green voters in those inner-city seats. What a terrible methodology to employ when it comes to governing a state.

How many livelihoods and how many futures are at stake in these communities that we see doing it tough all the time, through natural disasters like we're experiencing now, or through the ups and downs of the commodity price cycle? We need to stand by these communities, not abandon them.

A huge number of jobs were lost in Tasmania when the Greens got into bed with Labor and started governing our state. They virtually shut down our forestry industry overnight. A majority of the jobs—most of them in native forest harvesting—were gone. It was bad for our economy. We started going backwards because Labor in Tasmania were appeasing the Greens in Tasmania. While they might have won a couple of votes out of it in our major population centres, it was bad policy and it's been bad for jobs. It is something that results in a terrible outcome for regional communities.

I suppose the one message I have for the Andrews government and for other Labor governments around the country is: don't be tempted to do a deal with the Greens to shut down a particular part of any primary industry or extractive industry. They might tell you that they're happy to stop at native forest harvesting: 'If you end native forest harvesting, we'll get off your case forever.' I can guarantee to you now that the Greens won't stop there. We know for a fact that they will not stop until the last chainsaw falls silent. It's native forest harvesting and the native forest industries—the haulage contractors, the tree fellers, the millers—that are the target today, but tomorrow it will be plantations. It will happen. You only have to go to the comments by former Greens senator Bob Brown that confirm this point. (Time expired)