Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries Jonno Duniam says Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews must walk away from ceasing all native forestry by 2030, and without the trees to transition to plantation forestry, he must admit he got it wrong and ditch the ill-conceived policy.
“The Andrews Government’s plan to cease all native forest harvesting in state forests by 2030 has been revealed as a sham,” Assistant Minister Duniam said.
The Age revealed that Victoria’s Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas conceded that the promised plantations would not be ready by 2030.
Victorian Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said the Government had been clear that plantation trees planted now will not be ready by 2030 and that they will not be replacing native forests tree-for-tree.
The Age newspaper, 25 March, 2021
“Daniel Andrews promised to transition to plantations and not a single thing has been done to meet this transition by 2030,” Assistant Minister Duniam said.
“He has shown his disdain for the hardworking men and women in regional Victoria. The future of our forestry industry relies on both the native and plantation forestry sectors.
“We continue to call on the Andrews Government to immediately reverse its decision to shut down a sustainable, world-class industry.”