Media release – Rebecca White MP, Labor Leader, 30 March 2021
Labor will protect resource industry where the Liberals failed
A Labor Government will create the offence of aggravated trespass and put in place timber harvesting safety zones backed up with fines of $10,000 and up to 2 years in jail for individuals and up to $100,000 for entities.
Labor Leader Rebecca White said the days of dangerous workplace invasions are over and Labor is the only party that will establish realistic and workable protest laws.
“The Liberals failed to get their Workplace Amendment Bill through the Legislative Council because it was too broad and could have captured people protesting against the Liberal’s plan to privatise TAFE, or paramedics protesting about ambulance ramping,” Ms White said.
“A majority Labor Government has the numbers to get this through both houses of parliament.
“Labor is serious about protecting workplaces, while the Liberals only see this legislation as a political plaything.
“Labor has a solid plan based on effective laws from other states, not a Liberal rehash of the laws Bob Brown had thrown out of the High Court of Australia.
“We are more than ready to work in the best interests of the Tasmanian resources industry to draft legislation that will work without criminalising all protests.
“Workplaces need protection from the radical Bob Brown Foundation and the Greens and legislation is key to this.
“The Greens destroy Tasmanian jobs and this cannot continue, Labor has a plan that will work to help protect Tasmanians workers where the Liberals failed.”
Media release – Bob Brown Foundation, 30 March 2021
ALP announces re-hash of failed anti-protest laws
Today’s announcement by the Tasmanian Labor party of draconian new anti-protest laws comes hard on the heels of similar laws being rejected by the Tasmanian Parliament, with Labor MLCs, joining independents to vote down the failed laws.
This policy hypocrisy is a crass attempt to outdo the Liberal government’s failed attempt to stifle peaceful protest in Tasmania.
This policy has nothing to do with protecting jobs and is simply a desperate attempt to use Bob Brown Foundation, as a whipping post. These proposed laws will have far-reaching impacts on the rights of all citizens peacefully protesting about issue they care about.
The best way for the ALP to protect jobs in the forest industry is to accept that native forest logging is an outdated, destructive practice and to usher in a plantation-based forest industry.
“We have a problem in Tasmania – the ongoing logging of wildlife-filled native forests,” Bob Brown Foundation Campaign Manager Jenny Weber said today.
“We also have a solution – transition the industry into existing plantations, protecting native forests and addressing the biodiversity crisis, tackling climate change and protecting jobs in the process.”
“These proposed laws will do nothing to stop Bob Brown Foundation from peacefully protesting against the needless invasion and destruction of Tasmania’s public native forests,” Jenny Weber said.
Media release – Tasmanian Liberals, 30 March 2021
Labor All Talk And No Action On Workplace Protection
Labor had their chance to support Tasmanian workers and their families, and they blew it.
Their recent vote against our proposed workplace protection laws was the ultimate act of betrayal and a kick in the guts to the hard working Tasmanians who are being threatened and harassed by radical protesters for simply going to work.
For Labor to come out today and say they support workplace protection is hypocrisy in its highest form.
Tasmanians won’t be fooled, if Labor truly cared about the rights of workers, they would not have spent the past 15 months refusing to put forward options or bipartisan support to protect them.
Tasmanian workers and their families deserve protection and peace of mind, not cheap political games from Labor.
Tasmanians have not forgotten or forgiven the infamous Labor-Green love affair, which cost our forestry industry 4000 jobs – two out of three jobs in the sector. Tasmanians simply can’t trust them not to do it again.
Our Government will continue to back Tasmanian workers and businesses, and only a re-elected majority Gutwein Liberal Government has a long-term Plan to deliver jobs across regional Tasmania, and deliver a more diverse and resilient economy to help protect us against future challenges.
