Don’t judge a book by its cover, as the old saying goes.
And that is the case today. As the Albanese Government tries to dress up its selling-out of our proud forestry industry through the passage of Federal environmental laws, dig a little deeper – open the book and read the pages, if you will – and you will see that this deal is an absolute howler for Tasmania.
For decades, Tasmania’s Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) have underpinned our sustainable, world-class native forestry industry. They put an end to the hostile and intransigent forest policy stalemates of the twentieth century, and have since supported thousands of jobs in towns like Geeveston and New Norfolk, far from the Canberra bubble.
Now, with the stroke of a pen and a deal done in the shadows with the Greens, the Albanese Government has ended RFAs and in doing so delivered a sickening blow to this proud, sustainable Tasmanian industry.
In announcing the passage of the laws, the Prime Minister described a “pathway forward” for forestry. In truth, it is a roadmap to shut it down – an industry that employs honest, hardworking Tasmanians and supplies high-quality hardwood products to the world.
The Government’s supposed ‘forestry growth fund’ is not about growth. It is an admission that workers and businesses will face massive disruption and dislocation as they “transition” out of an industry the Government has chosen to sacrifice for political convenience in exchange for Greens support.
And let’s be clear: this will not help the environment. It simply means far more of our hardwood will now be imported from countries without our strict environmental standards. Instead of sustainable harvesting here, we will rely on timber from places where rainforests are logged without oversight. That is the perverse outcome of shutting down our responsible industry.
Tasmanian workers have been sold out – and most grievously by their own Federal Forestry Minister, Julie Collins. She has backed a deal that dismantles the very framework that kept our industry secure. Compounding that betrayal is the Prime Minister’s broken promise: in 2022 he told the forestry sector he would not shut down native forestry. Three years later, he is doing exactly that. This is the same Prime Minister who, in 2004, also tried to ban native forestry alongside Mark Latham. Now that long-coveted ambition is back to haunt Tasmania.
Labor has once again abandoned our state in favour of Greens votes.
This decision will hurt families, businesses, and communities. It will undermine sovereign capability, increase costs for housing and industries that use timber, and in the long run inevitably mean mass job losses.
Tasmania deserved better.
Labor promised to stand with Tasmania’s forestry workers. Instead, they traded them – and our state – away.
Read deeper into the pages of their deal with the Greens, and you will find it is not what the cover makes it out to be.
ENDS