Timber industry
Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (12:15): (197) My question is to the Minister for Agriculture. Like many others, contractor Peter McConachy has supplied specialised machinery and operators in civil forest management for 20 years, clearing firebreaks, removing dangerous trees from Melbourne’s water catchment and during bushfires assisting in direct fire mitigation and asset management. You have flagged in your government’s decision to shut down the native timber industry that native timber harvest and haulage workers will – and I quote your website on the forestry transition program – ‘be offered alternative work in forest and land management’. In providing for VicForests native timber contractors in forest management, what guarantee will you provide that existing civil contractors will not lose their jobs in the process?
Gayle Tierney: The question that Ms Bath has asked is more appropriately referred to the Minister for Environment.
Melina BATH: On a point of order, President, at the beginning of this week the Leader of the House said to me that Minister Stitt would be away for the entire week. I asked that in particular. This particular question actually relates to the transition plan and incorporates both VicForests contractors and civil.
The PRESIDENT: I think the minister was actually trying to be helpful. I can see Minister Stitt. I accept that there was advice that maybe Minister Stitt might not have been here all week. Can I suggest that you do direct it that way to get an answer. She is happy to take the question.
Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Early Childhood and Pre-Prep, Minister for Environment) (12:17): I thank Ms Bath for the question. Yes, I was absent from Parliament for some of this week, but I am very happy to be back today. The issue that you raise is a really important one, and from the outset I want to acknowledge the important role that forest contractors play right across the public land estate, including in really important bushfire preparedness work. I am very mindful of the significant contribution that many of these contractors made during those devastating bushfires in 2019 and 2020, and that is one of the reasons why it is an absolute priority for our government to make sure that we are engaging contractors for important land management work going forward.
For the immediate upcoming bushfire season we will be continuing those contracts that already existed so that that work can continue unimpeded. We are in the process of having more detailed discussions with forest contractors and their representatives about a longer term set of work within the public land estate, and that would be not just in relation to bushfire preparedness, storm recovery works and the like; it would be also including the additional work that is going to be associated with that 1.8 million hectares of work that will essentially come out of the timber allocation and into the public land estate. I want to reassure everyone in the house that this is really important work and the government is not wasting time. We are sitting down with those representatives of forest contractors to make sure that we lock in longer term work. We have already committed that for contractors for the upcoming fire season those contracts will continue through to June next year.
Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (12:19): I thank the minister for her response, and I concur with her on the seriousness of this in terms of the fact that in this industry both civil and former VicForests contractors need extension, need longevity and need to be able to have this use ongoing; otherwise they just cannot afford to keep their machines and their workers. I want you to expand on – you have said ‘longer term’ contracts – when that decision will be made about those longer term contracts and what those longer term contracts will look like.
Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Early Childhood and Pre-Prep, Minister for Environment) (12:20): Thank you for that supplementary question. I am obviously not in a position to give definitive time frames yet or the nature of ongoing work, but they are ongoing and live conversations that are happening now. Both I and Minister Tierney have met directly with representatives of the forest contractors association already, and we have given them a commitment that we will continue to work on these issues. I know that contractors are looking for certainty in terms of what the next period of time looks like for them, and we are also very cognisant of the fact that they are carrying quite large debt associated with the specialist equipment that they have. We are continuing those discussions.