Thursday, 22 June 2023

Firewood collection

Richard RIORDAN (Polwarth) (10:16): I rise this morning to once again raise the very important issue of the sustainability of the firewood industry in regional Victoria. The recent decision by the Andrews government to basically abandon all native forest timber management means that the firewood industry, which is a multi-hundred-million-dollar industry across Victoria, has been left in limbo. They have no clarity. I met with some multigenerational timber firewood harvesters on the weekend. Young Daniel Heinze is a fourth-generation firewood merchant who supplies a really important energy service to people right across my electorate.

Firewood of course is used still – very, very commonly – by people as a source of heating, hot water and cooking. These are basic energy requirements that people have. This government has put no measures in place and no support in place to provide any sort of transition, not only for the firewood merchants but for the people who require this energy. One of the things that is very disappointing is this energy source has traditionally been a low-cost, easy and manageable system of energy for a whole raft of rural people. At this time, in the middle of winter, I urge the Andrews government to come out and be clear and give direction to this industry and to the people that rely on this form of energy so they know where they stand this year.