Darren Chester Federal Member for Gippsland
According to Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester, Victoria’s recent Supreme Court decision to reject VicForests’ appeal is a further blow to Gippsland timber communities who have been under siege from protestors for decades and offered no protection from a Labor Government that has no interest in timber workers. Source: Timberbiz
Premier Dan Andrews and his ministerial colleagues could have worked with the coalition to provide a regulatory environment that supported the native hardwood timber industry.
Mr Chester said that they are choosing to shut down a viable and sustainable industry based on political science, and not environmental science.
As a region, we need to stay united and take our fight to Melbourne and Canberra he said.
The combined impacts of judicial activism, environmental protests, green law fare, and an abject failure of the Victorian Labor Government to support our world class and environmentally sustainable native hardwood timber industry is devastating regional communities Mr Chester said in a statement.
This requires a national focus, and the Prime Minister has to get involved before it’s all too late.
Last year the Prime Minister tweeted after speaking at the Australian Forest Products Association dinner in Canberra: “We want a thriving and a sustainable timber industry… one that provides jobs and drives down our emissions for years to come.”
After a year in Government, the Prime Minister hasn’t lifted a finger to support Victorian timber communities and the families that will lose their income as a result of this decision.
There’s no compensation package that can replace the bush skills, heritage, community spirit and economic value of the native hardwood timber industry Mr Chester said.
The alternative to harvesting local timber on a long-term rotational basis is to import more timber from countries with poorer environmental protocols which is not in the national interest.
A sustainable Victorian native hardwood timber industry is part of the answer to reducing Australia’s carbon emissions as timber products sequester carbon in our floorboards, furniture and other timber products.
Re-growing trees can increase and maintain the role of forests as carbon sinks and is the ultimate renewable resource.
