On Illegal Logging in Tasmanian Forests …

Media release – Guy Barnett, Minister for Resources, 6 April 2022

Providing certainty for our sustainable forest industry

The Tasmanian Liberal Government is committed to supporting our sustainable native forestry industry and the thousands of direct and indirect jobs it supports.

Tasmania’s forestry sector is well-managed, environmentally sustainable and regulated by the independent Forest Practices Authority, despite claims from opponents who are solely focussed on shutting it down.

A highly technical administrative matter relating to the issuing of a delegation made under the Forest Practices Act 1985 has recently been identified.

I am advised that similar delegations have been issued since the commencement of the Act in the mid-1980s, including under both Labor and Labor-Green Governments.

To be clear, this matter relates to the construction and form of the delegation instrument and does not go to the safety or appropriateness of forestry operations undertaken on-ground.

However, to provide certainty for our industry and to remove doubt, the Government intends to introduce validating legislation when Parliament resumes to resolve this technical issue at law.

This is not the first time that validating legislation has been brought to Parliament and I wish to stress again that this does not go to the safety or appropriateness of forestry operations undertaken on ground.

Additionally, the independent Forest Practices Authority has undertaken measures to ensure that the system continues to remain robust.

It is no secret that the radical Bob Brown Foundation and their Parliamentary allies in the Greens will take any opportunity in their ongoing attempts to shut down our sustainable native forestry sector.

In stark contrast, we make no apology for standing up for the thousands of Tasmanians, many in regional areas, who work in our sustainable native forestry industry.

Cassy O’Connor MP, Greens Leader and Forests spokesperson, 6 April 2022

Logging Must Stop as Barnett Admits it is Illegal

Guy Barnett has admitted his government has broken the law by logging forests in breach of the Forest Practices Act 1985.

It’s not just a “technical detail”, it’s the law. Illegal logging cannot be allowed to continue.

It was Minister Barnett’s colleagues who sought to prorogue Parliament. The soonest the Liberals can attempt to retrospectively fix legislation to legalise native forest logging is the first week in May, with the Legislative Council not sitting until Budget week at the end of May.

It is unacceptable for a Minister of the Crown to sign off, with no authority, on illegal logging for at least the next two months.

All illegal logging must stop immediately.

Media release – Bob Brown Foundation, 6 April 2022

LIBERALS’ CRIMINAL LOGGING FOUND OUT!

Foundation’s claims corroborated by red-faced minister.

Corroborating last week’s call from Bob Brown Foundation that all logging in Tasmania for decades has been illegal, the Minister for Resources Guy Barnett has now flagged retrospective validating legislation to ‘legalise’ the criminal behaviour.

“This outrageous minister and government has crowed week-in and week-out about the need for harsher laws to stop forest protests when, all along, it has been his logging which has been illegal. The protesters were upholding the Tasmanian laws which governments, including minister Barnett, were breaking,” Bob Brown said today.

All logging should cease until this bungling minister has been replaced and the mess sorted out. The government should prepare to compensate hundreds of good people who have been wrongfully charged, convicted and even sent to jail for obstructing this illegal logging.”

“Barnett’s limp attempt to justify breaking Tasmanian law by calling it a ‘technical detail’ would be thrown out of court. The law is the law. No ordinary citizen can retrospectively change the law’s technicalities, or claim ignorance, to rescue themselves from prosecution or imprisonment. Logging of Tasmania’s wildlife-filled forests without proper authorisation is a crime. The minister is proposing to backdate laws to cover up criminal behaviour by Forestry Tasmania. This is truly shocking,” Brown said.

In 1972, the Reece government’s attorney-general resigned and huge public uproar was sparked when the premier and parliament retrospectively validated flooding Lake Pedder without having first rescinded its national park status – a ‘minor technical detail’ at the time.

“In 2022, parliament must not repeat that shameful ‘doubts removal’  process to validate the wholesale destruction of more of Tasmania’s natural heritage,” Brown said.

Shane Broad MP, Shadow Minister for Resources, 7 April 2022

Parliamentary pause leaves logging industry in limbo

The Liberal government’s decision to cancel State Parliament until next month has left Tasmania’s forestry industry in limbo for at least a month.

A highly technical interpretation of delegations made under the Forest Practices Act has thrown the legality of logging in the state under a cloud and resulted in charges against anti-forestry protesters being dropped.

It’s all very well for the Minister Guy Barnett to say retrospective legislation will be drafted “urgently” to fix the problem when State Parliament resumes.

But the chaos within this government has led to the cancellation of next week’s sitting of the House of Assembly, meaning Parliament won’t sit again until 3 May.

This is an urgent problem that needs to be fixed to give certainty to the industry, and putting it off for almost another month is not dealing with it urgently.

Instead, the Liberals have left the industry open to more uncertainty and a month’s worth of pot shots from the Greens and the Bob Brown Foundation.

Given that Parliament has only sat for nine days this year, the cancellation of next week’s sitting is completely unnecessary and has brought the working of government to a grinding halt.

Rather than fighting among themselves, the Liberals need to get their act together and get on with the job of governing Tasmania.