The Tasmanian Greens today said the fact that the Minister could not rule out that Forestry Tasmania may have re-employed contractors who had received industry exit grants, is further evidence why the Greens’ push for an inquiry into the payment of exit grants to forest contractors under the terms of the Tasmanian Forests Intergovernmental Agreement is warranted.
Greens Forestry spokesperson Kim Booth MP also welcomed the Resources Minister Bryan Green’s tabling of correspondence in which Mr Green had raised concerns with the Federal Forestry Minister Joe Ludwig.
“Clearly Mr Green shares the Greens’ concerns over the administration of these grants to some extent, the Australian Forest Contractors Association has also stated there are industry-wide concerns, which is why we’re still pursuing a state-based inquiry,” Mr Booth said.
“The Greens have tabled a motion to establish a select committee to investigate the possible rorting and maladministration of forest grants, and the Liberals have also tabled a similar motion.”
“Given the real possibility of a potential intention to defraud the public purse, the Greens would expect both Labor and Liberals to support the most targeted inquiry being established to bring some transparency and restore public confidence in this process.”
“The Greens are genuinely interested in ensuring probity and transparency and we would hope that both Labor and Liberal share that concern.”
“There are a lot of unanswered questions around the administration of these grants, including claims that a significant number of contractors did not meet the eligibility criteria for exit payments.”
“It’s essential that Parliament gets to these bottom of the serious questions over Forestry Tasmania’s decision last year to send unauthorised letters of support for the applicants’ exit from the public native forestry industry.”
Kim Booth MP Greens Forestry Spokesperson Wednesday, 20 March 2013
