Tuesday, 15 August 2023

Timber industry

Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (16:38): (390) My adjournment is to the Minister for Agriculture, to reverse the Labor government’s decision to end native forestry in Victoria. When you consider the facts, this decision makes no sense at all. Victorians rely on timber. We use timber to build houses, furniture, floorboards, staircases and window frames. We use timber to create products like copy paper, cardboard and paper bags. And as people struggle to pay rising energy bills, many rely on firewood for heating. Victoria’s population is growing, and we do not produce enough timber to meet demand. We use timber from other states and import hardwood from countries that do not have the same environmental standards.

The best thing about timber is that trees grow back. When a tree is harvested there is no waste; every part of the tree is used. The Nationals want Victoria to become a clean, green state, but to do so we need to expand the timber industry, not shut it down. Our native timber industry should be praised for its role in helping the environment. Trees absorb carbon, and even timber, once cut or made into furniture, stores carbon. We need more of it, not less.

The Victorian native forest industry harvests less than 0.04 per cent of Victoria’s total forest area per year. By law, every tree harvested must be replanted, and old-growth forests cannot be touched. Labor’s decision to close the native timber industry on 1 January 2024 is nearly seven years ahead of schedule and gives no time for businesses and towns to transition.

I was at Powelltown Sawmills recently with Cindy McLeish, the member for Eildon, to meet with those directly impacted by this decision. Their business employs up to 40 staff, including some that have always worked in the industry who will struggle to find employment elsewhere. Closing the native timber industry will not just impact VicForests and crews, timber mill workers and office staff, furniture producers, builders and transport operators; it will further increase costs and impact us all. I met a contractor who has worked with VicForests since 2007 in seed collection and regeneration. He has called every hotline seeking assistance but does not qualify under the timber industry package. He used to employ 15 staff. Now he is drawing down on his mortgage and struggling to support a young family.

For the few who qualify, Labor’s support packages force people into silence, and free TAFE vouchers and referrals to mental health services with long waitlists offer little hope to people whose lives have been destroyed by this government. The minister promised to back local communities with the financial support, secure jobs and training, and one-on-one case management they need. But what they really need and our whole state needs is for this Labor government to reverse their decision and help the timber industry grow in Victoria.