LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
MY family and I attended the Australia Sustainable Hardwoods public meeting on Wednesday, February 1, in a bid to try and save our industry.
Gippsland MHR Darren Chester spoke glowingly about our state-of-the-art timber mill.
Gippsland East MLA Tim Bull, who was also in attendance, said “political will can fix this”.
The Eastern Victoria MLC, Labor’s Harriet Shing, spoke about waiting for results from the task force.
The task force had failed to reach any agreement because of the way it was set up.
It was made up of four industry representatives from four green groups (incidentally, one of these green groups owes the government $1.5 million in unpaid legal fees) and two union mediators.
We believe it was designed to be a stalling tactic.
Harriet Shing stated that we cannot cut ’39 regeneration forever (regenerated forest)’.
This region is already a second rotation cut that we began harvesting in 1988.
I know this personally, because I was harvesting it.
1939 to 1988 is 49 years; that being the case in another 20 years, we will be able to start a third rotation.
The 20-year deal signed off by VicForests two years ago would have fitted perfectly to take us up to the next rotation.
This is the ultimate renewable industry in Victoria.
When the government changed, this deal was forgotten.
Same people at VicForests, same trees in the forest.
The only thing that has changed is the government.
In reality what the government is doing, by stealth, is creating even more national parks.
These parks are unnecessary.
They take unharvested resource from us without replacing them.
We have heard about everything from frogs, Leadbeater’s possums, gliders, fish and even crayfish all being endangered.
Industry has always had strict buffers and reserves to protect these animals.
Let’s say that the green groups are right, and all of these animals are in peril.
If we are as bad for the environment as the greenies say and with the mega fires that burn through national parks into our harvesting areas, wouldn’t all of these animals be extinct already?
Incidentally, it’s not the greenies that the government get out of bed in the middle of the night to go and drive the bulldozers that fight these fires.
All of this is to gain votes from some inner-city latte sippers, Goongerah and the knitting nannas from Toolangi.
Labor used to be the working man’s party, but there must be a huge power struggle between Water Minister Lisa Neville (“greater forests national park in my first term”) and Premier Daniel Andrews (“Timber wars are over”).
It seems Minister Neville is not only wearing the pants, but also picks out the Premier’s.
As an industry, we don’t need handouts.
We just call on the working man’s Labor Party to give hard working, tax paying families access to the renewable timber reserves they need.
After all, absolutely everyone uses timber and paper products.
If not, please consider changing your name from the Working Man’s Labor Party to the Inner-City Latte Sippers Society.
