Media Release

Peter Gutwein MP
Shadow Minister for Forestry

Wednesday 19th January 2011

Forest Assistance package exacerbating industry problems

Rather than solving problems in the forest industry, Labor’s forest contractor buyout is making problems worse.

On top of serious concerns being raised regarding the assessment process being used to allocate the forestry assistance package to contractors, the woefully inadequate level of funding provided is now beginning to corrupt the entire forestry supply chain.

I have been contacted by cartage and roading contactors who are now out of work because the harvesting contractors they subcontracted to are taking a package and closing down their operation.

I am aware of up to 15 jobs that have disappeared in the last week because trucks will now sit idle because the harvesting operation they were carting for is taking a package to leave the industry.

The $22 million assistance package was never proposed to be used to exit people from the industry. It was designed to provide cash-flow assistance to struggling contractors to enable them to remain in the industry whilst the disastrous statement of principles was progressed and the size and scale of the industry going forward was established.

The amount of funding is woefully inadequate for an industry restructuring program and as a result the meager amount of funds available are simply corrupting the supply chain by removing harvesting contractors that were supporting other subcontractors, who are now as a result out of work.

The Labor Green Government must accept they have got this wrong. The industry has no clear picture of what it may look like into the future and as a result the restructuring package is premature, woefully inadequate and is now having disastrous flow on effects to other industry participants.

Rather than spending money to buy out forest industry jobs and shrink the industry, the Government should be adopting our balanced 13-point plan which will grow the industry while improving environmental outcomes.

If the State and Federal Government can’t even get a simple assistance package right, then how can we trust them to restructure the entire industry?