The Nationals in Victoria have labelled the State Government’s forestry compensation package an insult, demanding the government immediately head back to the drawing board. Source: Timberbiz
Speaking in State Parliament, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Public Land Use, Melina Bath labelled the package as “seriously flawed” stating it “denied timber harvest and haulage operators the fair compensation they deserve”.
“The package is a dud and shows displaced harvest and haulage contractors and their workers are not Labor’s priority,” she said.
“It is riddled with unknowns and inequities which fail to deliver industry workers a fair deal.”
“The Labor Government fast tracked closure of Victoria’s sustainable native timber industry, stripped workers of their livelihood and now we see it is planning to dupe contractors.
“Labor’s offer is a disaster and requires serious refinement.”
Ms Bath called out the State Government for ignoring industry proposals.
“Criticism has been levelled at the capping of compensation payouts and forcing employers to bear additional worker training and redundancy costs,” said Ms Bath.
“Labor has also reserved the right to pay less than the calculated value for equipment buy-backs to fit the funding cap.
“The Labor Government has in effect created a glorified grant stream where harvest and haul-age contractors are competing against each other in a capped pool for the limited funds available.”
After The Nationals challenged the Premier in question time on Thursday, Member for Morwell, Martin Cameron said one positive was, the Premier Jacinta Allan agreed to meet with the Forest Contractors’ Association to discuss the details of the package.
“This is a step in the right direction; however the package needs to change significantly as it falls well short.”
Ms Bath reiterated the need to secure agreement within the next few weeks to allow hard-working families to make informed decisions.
“Like my Nationals colleagues, I’ve been working with impacted timber industry families for the long haul, and unlike the Labor Government we will never abandon them.”
