Media Release

Peter Gutwein MP
Shadow Minister for Forestry

Friday 20th January, 2012

IGA report

To suggest that our $1.4 billion forest industry can be replaced by a few walking tracks and niche cottage industries is sheer fantasy.

While I am not surprised that Senator Brown and the Greens believe in this economic fairy-tale, it is telling that David O’Byrne has welcomed this report, which is co-written by Senator Brown’s former staff member.

The reality is, Labor is captive to the Greens, and they have sold out our forest industry and thousands of jobs for nothing more than political self-interest.

Commonsense will tell you that you can’t replace $700 million in economic activity annually with $7 million charity each year from the Federal Government and expect to create as many jobs as will be lost under the disastrous forestry deal.