Labor has offered to join the Liberals to find a bipartisan way to boost the Tasmanian forestry industry and head off a repeat of the forest wars. Source: The Mercury
The Liberals pledged to release 40,000ha of native forest from 356,000ha set aside as Future Potential Production Forest in 2014.
But the plan has the industry concerned that the strategy runs the risk of reigniting the forest wars and return to large-scale protests not seen in more than a decade.
Labor leader Dean Winter said Labor was happy to work with the government to find a way ahead for the industry which included boosting local producers.
“We need to make sure that industry has the confidence that it needs to go forward and that’s why I’m making sure today that Tasmania and the forest industry know that Tasmanian Labor is strongly supporting the Tasmanian native forest sector and timber mills like this right across Tasmania,” he said.
“Our offer to the Tasmanian government and Jeremy Rockliff is that we are prepared to work in a bipartisan way we then going forward around future timber supply.
“We don’t want to see the Tasmanian forest wars start again – the last thing that the industry needs is for the forest wars to start again.”
Tasmanian Forest Products Association CEO Nick Steel said industry wanted a nuanced approach instead of fresh conflict.
“We now have two major parties supporting our industry, providing certainty and confidence for our industry going forward and for the 5500 people that are employed within it,” he said.
“We’ve certainly made our position clear in terms of the future potential production forest land, we see it’s better to actually review that 356,000ha as a block, instead of just targeting the production forest, to consider what best land use that may be.
“That may be for conservation, that could be in terms of Aboriginal management, or there could be opportunities for productive forestry.”
Torenius Timber general manager Matthew Torenius agreed that co-operation was the way forward.
“There has been a lot of talk about forestry wars and I think on behalf of the Sawmillers Association, I’d like to say that we’re lovers, not haters.
“We don’t want a situation where we have Tasmanians pitted against Tasmanians.
“We have a sustainable industry in this state, it should be used to do as much value-adding as we can in this state as possible and provide security of supply within Tasmania so we can look after our furniture makers, our home builders, our backyard project-doers.
Former Labor leader Bryan Green, who is running as a candidate for the Legislative Council in Prosser, negotiated a forest peace deal that the Liberals threw out when they came to power in 2014.
“I’m very concerned that we’re going to go down the path now of forest wars that set the industry back years. What we need to be thinking about in this industry is consolidating the jobs that we’ve got, ensuring that the contracts are extended and making sure that we don’t export our jobs future to Victoria and other places,” he said.
“The wood in Tasmania should be processed in Tasmania and as a result of that the work and communities that survive on that can flourish on into the future.”
Liberal MP Felix Ellis denied the his party was were playing politics with forestry.
“We need to grow the timber industry in Tasmania because this is a such an exciting industry for a future that is climate constrained, that is carbon constrained.
“We know that Labor sadly tried to shut down the timber industry here in Tasmania, destroyed hundreds of jobs and regional communities.”
