Thursday, 15 May 2025

Forest management

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (02:00): (1634) My adjournment matter this morning is for the Minister for Environment, and it relates to the botched, rushed and ill-planned closure of the native timber industry and the ramifications of that, which we all knew were going to happen, but the government stuck its head in the sand. Minister, there is a significant issue caused by the government’s appalling closure, and it relates to the bottleneck that occurs when you have too many contractors now in the system and work that needs to be done that is being delayed in being done but also too many people vying for the same contracts. You have got VicForests contractors who moved over and took one direction offered by the government into forest and fire management works, and you still have the civil contractors that have been in that marketplace and doing that good work for a long time, and all of them assist greatly in times of emergencies and bushfires. Minister, what you need to do is deliver on the contracted works for these existing forest fire management civil contractors or pay them out – give them work, let them earn their money or pay them out. The contractors – their equipment and expertise – are critical, as I have said, in bushfires.

Following the Labor government’s closure, we had this botched transition. Indeed one commitment was made by the minister that civil contractors would have access to similar volumes that they had in the past, and one letter from the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action reiterates this, as my constituent has raised with me. But now they are devoid of work, and they are competing in a limited market. Last financial year one civil contractor performed 120 days of forest and fire management activity and in this year only 20 days. His business is in jeopardy, the equipment is sitting idle with little or no income, and DEECA has effectively stood him down. As a result, mental health has been affected and there is no income coming in.

Court injunctions place another layer of bureaucracy and pain, and the government’s own DEECA is not fulfilling its objectives to provide that work for this whole industry. In March it was revealed that DEECA had failed to complete about half of the $65 million in forest fire management, leaving $30 million of works not undertaken. Minister, you must authorise work to get people back doing their job – their very important work – managing bushfire risk and clearing fire breaks or pay these civil contractors out fairly.