Labor Pledges Tasmanian First Forestry Policy

Media release – Rebecca White MP, Tasmanian Labor Leader, 24 July 2023

Labor pledges Tasmanian First Forestry Policy

Tasmanian Labor will seek to work with Independent MPs John Tucker and Lara Alexander to create a Tasmanian First Forestry Policy.

Today, I toured Neville Smith Forestry Products at Mowbray.

Saw mill operators and forestry industry leaders have shared their concern about the future of the industry under Premier Jeremy Rockliff and Minister Felix Ellis. Mills like this one at Mowbray face an uncertain future unless Minister Ellis is pulled into line.

They also expressed concern that Minister Ellis and Sustainable Timbers Tasmania will award a contract to a mainland saw miller at the expense of a local Tasmanian company putting Tasmanian jobs at risk.

In the middle of a housing and cost of living crisis this approach means that intergenerational Tasmanian businesses may be forced to reduce jobs or even close.

After 10 years in office, it is clear that the minority Liberal Government has done little to protect our forestry industry and ensure that regional businesses and jobs continue to thrive across the state.

A Labor Government will get to work on putting Tasmania and Tasmanians first, ensuring that regional businesses, jobs and economies are protected.

Media release – Rosalie Woodruff MP, Acting Greens Leader, 25 July 2023

Labor, Liberals in Lockstep on Logging

Rebecca White has again shown her Labor party is in lockstep with the Liberals, supporting continued widespread logging and burning of native forests.

Labor governments in Victoria and Western Australia have now announced an end to native forest logging, with its mass destruction of wildlife and intact carbon stores. Many Tasmanians were hopeful we might also see a change of approach from Rebecca White’s Labor, but unfortunately that’s not the case.

Rebecca White has made it clear beyond a shadow of doubt that a vote for either the Liberal or Labor parties would continue the destruction of Tasmania’s unique and biodiverse forests. Despite a majority of the community being opposed to native forest logging and calling for rapid climate action, Labor and the Liberals are lockstep in support for this outdated industry.

Amidst global news with disturbing vision of the unfolding climate emergency, Labor’s re-committant to logging and burning Tasmania’s carbon-rich forests is tone deaf. Apparently Labor is also not worried about the direct impact logging is having on critically endangered species like the swift parrot, Tasmanian devil and masked owl.

With both Labor and the Liberals doggedly pursuing native forest destruction, it’s only the Greens in Parliament who stand for a better way forward. There are highly compatible skills in forestry workers waiting to be transferred into vast jobs in ecosystem restoration and supporting existing plantations.

In a climate and biodiversity crisis, the Greens will do everything we can to get the major parties to understand the urgency of looking after the natural world that sustains us.

Media release – Bob Brown Foundation, 25 July 2023

Tasmanian ALP continues to back wildlife slaughter and forest destruction

Tasmania’s ALP leader, Rebecca White, backs the destruction of native forests in an age of climate and extinction crises. Despite decisions to end native forest logging by Labor governments in WA and Vic, Tasmania’s Labor party is ignoring the writing on the wall and the growing popularity of forest protection and its real climate action.

“Political parties in Tasmania need to move on from their outdated commitment to destroying nature, killing threatened species and contributing to the global heating crisis,” Bob Brown Foundation’s Jenny Weber said.

“The majority of Tasmania’s native forests end up as woodchips and huge quantities left in the forest are burnt each autumn. Meanwhile, plantations that have been established with taxpayer funds are also being woodchipped at a great rate. A poll from The Australia Institute shows that 78 per cent of Labor voters back an end to native forest logging. It is time Labor’s parliamentarians represented that majority of Labor voters,” Bob Brown said.

“Like Tasmania’s Rockliff government, Ms White and her Tasmanian Labor party would send the swift parrot to extinction, contribute to ongoing climate breakdown and entrench taxpayer subsidies for environmental destruction if they don’t end native forest logging,” Jenny Weber said.