VicForests
Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (12:11): (226) My question is for the Minister for Agriculture. Last week we heard that an investigation by the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner found that VicForests unlawfully conducted surveillance of citizens by hiring a private investigator to spy on them. OVIC commissioner Sven Bluemmel said the privacy act breaches were serious and flagrant. Given this is just one of many breaches of the law by VicForests over several years, does the government trust VicForests to have any role in forest management in Victoria after the transition out of logging in January?
The PRESIDENT: I think that is verging on asking the minister for her opinion. Dr Mansfield, do you want to reframe the question.
Sarah MANSFIELD: I can rephrase. Minister, will VicForests have any role after the end of native forest logging in January?
Gayle TIERNEY (Western Victoria – Minister for Training and Skills, Minister for Higher Education, Minister for Agriculture) (12:13): I thank the member for her question. This is a question that I have been asked a couple of times since the budget announcement in respect of the logging of native timber. The entity itself, VicForests, the government is still having discussions about. We are very mindful of the staff that are connected to VicForests, and of course we are wanting their skills and their capabilities to be utilised effectively in terms of what other entity may exist and/or in terms of land management. That is very important, and that is work that is also being undertaken in the area of Minister Stitt’s portfolio. We have not landed on an actual model for that at this given time, but we are very conscious of the fact that we want to maintain the utilisation of those skills, knowledge, capabilities and corporate knowledge.
Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (12:14): I thank the minister for her response. It is clear that VicForests cannot be trusted to stay within the law. The transition out of logging is just four months away. When will you give the community and workers certainty about what is going to happen with VicForests?
Gayle TIERNEY (Western Victoria – Minister for Training and Skills, Minister for Higher Education, Minister for Agriculture) (12:14): This goes to the whole-of-government approach that we are taking in respect of the decision around the cessation of logging of native timber. We have been dealing with a whole range of different things since that announcement. We have been dealing with the workers package in respect of the decision; the sawmill package, whether it is opt-in or opt-out; we have been dealing with the transition fund, the innovation fund; and we have been dealing with the independent contractors and the logging crews and of course the timber communities as well through a whole range of different local community strategies. We will continue to work on those matters. There are a number of other issues that we are dealing with, but these are the most immediate issues, and we will have something more to say about that fairly soon.