Thursday, 2 April 2026

 Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (19:33): (2491) I rise tonight with a matter for the Minister for Agriculture. Regional communities are still paying the price for Labor’s closure of the native timber industry, and the Auditor-General’s report this week has now laid bare the consequences. Just this week the Auditor-General’s report finds the government cannot demonstrate that its forestry transition is delivering secure jobs, sustainable livelihoods or resilient regional communities. After more than $1.5 billion committed – committed, I say, not delivered – the government cannot show if workers are better off or not. Job quality has gone backwards, as per the Auditor-General’s report. Before shutting down, around 80 per cent of the timber workers were in full-time employment. Now there are only 60 per cent in employment, and that is either casual and/or insecure work. The department does not even track income, job security or whether these jobs will last. We have heard it all before in the regions. This is not a successful transition. This is an economic instability being rebranded as some form of progress, where it is actually environmental vandalism and loss of community context in the entirety in these regions. The Auditor-General was also clear that the governance and oversight have failed – this is the Auditor-General’s own report, not mine – internal controls are weak, documentation is inconsistent and accountability is diluted through outsourcing. ‘No shock there,’ say the country people in my electorate. Delivery was handed to ForestWorks. There are some good people working in ForestWorks. However, the department did not adequately verify training completion or employment outcomes, while still retaining legal responsibility. Most concerning of all is that the government does not know what happens next. Monitoring focuses on activity, not outcomes. Evaluations are late or are end-loaded, and there is no clear plan for the risks facing workers, families or regional communities beyond the 2026 time period. The audit tells a simple story: Labor shut down a generations-old industry first and then worried about the consequences later.

My message to the minister is clear: regional communities do not want more bureaucracy and more consultations, and no more glossy reports. They want fairness, they want local input and they want security and accountability. The action I seek from the minister is to immediately review the remaining funding and ensure that it is directed to workers, families and those communities most affected by the timber closure, not absorbed into bureaucratic administration. Regional communities deserve solutions, not more spin.