Eastern Victoria Region
Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (12:50): (389) My constituency question is for the Minister for Emergency Services, and the question that I ask is: what does the minister plan to do to deal with the fire response following the closure of the native timber industry? Following the state Labor government’s decision to shut down the native timber industry a number of my constituents have raised concerns about the future of our bushfire response. The ban on native timber logging does not just destroy jobs, it destroys our capacity to fight back against bushfires. Native timber workers are the backbone of the response. They provide the heavy machinery and the local knowledge to fight these fires. My constituents are extremely concerned that the state Labor government’s decision to shut down the sustainable timber industry in the name of their green environmental agenda has taken away the ability for locals to deal with it.