The Tasmanian Opposition has accused the Government of rehiring forestry workers who had been made redundant as firefighting casuals. Source: ABC News
Earlier in the year, the state-owned Forestry Tasmania (FT) was restructured, which involved significant job cuts and fuelled fears of losing staff with firefighting skills.
Labor leader Bryan Green also told Parliament firefighters who had lost their jobs were among those being re-hired for the upcoming season.
He said it was not an economically viable approach.
“We now know that staff are being re-employed as casuals for the approaching fire season, because of the serious concerns about FTs ability to fight fires,” he told Parliament.
“Minister, is it not now clear for all to see your incompetence and hands off approach to the challenges facing Forestry Tasmania, are now coming back to bite you? “Minister, isn’t it a fact that you are making skilled workers redundant and then re-employing them is a false economy?”
Resources Minister Paul Harriss attacked the Opposition leader and denied any re-hiring from the latest redundancies.
“The great revisionist historian himself seeks to re-write the history by his own question, and suggests all of these fallacious things, which run around in his mind about his suggestion about the destruction of Forestry Tasmania,” he said.
He disputes the claim that employees were being re-hired from the most recent round of redundancies after the restructure this year. But he confirmed former workers have been approached.
“Forestry Tasmania has been in contact with retirees and former employees who were not part of the recent redundancy program, to see if they are available for firefighting duties over summer,” he said in a statement.
