Outraged timber workers claim the bush is out of sight, out of mind
Outraged timber workers have accused the Minns Government of “selling out” rural communities because they lack the voting power to take revenge at the ballot box.
Outraged timber workers have accused the Minns Government of “selling out” rural communities because they lack the voting power to take revenge at the ballot box.
Proposed boundaries for the 476,000-hectare Great Koala National Park (GKNP) in northern NSW were announced this week, along with a moratorium on timber harvesting within its borders.
The scale of the koala protection area threatens to decimate the logging industry, with key figures saying the government’s 10-week support package to impacted workers is no more than lip service.
Shane Hoffman runs a timber harvesting and haulage business near Wauchope. While he harvests outside the GKNP, his haulage contracts with Forestry Corporation of NSW will be impacted by the logging ban.
“People are gutted, and we learned about this on Father’s Day,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
“We still haven’t been contacted by anyone about these support packages either. We’ve just been picked off the edge and left in the dark.
“We’re just forgotten out here in the bush. The government doesn’t worry about us because our votes don’t count.
“Regional areas don’t have enough seats, they don’t have enough people to make a big enough difference when it comes to elections. It’s a selling out of the bush.
“But what are they going to do when the people in the country have had enough and say ‘you know what, you lot in the city can feed and look after yourselves’.”
Matt Parker, whose family has run logging operations outside Dorrigo for 119 years, is also fuming with his entire harvesting operation on hold.
“This government speaks to citizen scientists who go to the bush twice a year and determine we’re a threat to koalas,” he said.
“They’re just not interested in anything we’ve had to say. You would think they would come out and have us take them through what we do. Don’t just go to the mills. Come to the forests.
“But you can’t put brains in statues mate, and we really don’t know what the future holds.”
The NSW Government website says: “There is an immediate moratorium on timber harvesting in those state forests in the GKNP assessment area. This means that current harvesting operations in these forests must cease and no new operations will commence.
“The moratorium will be in place for up to 12 months … while the details of transitioning state forests to national parks are investigated and negotiated.
“Businesses will be receiving financial assistance to ensure they can continue to pay their workers and to assist them to access other supports during a 10-week transition period.”
Environment Minister Penny Sharpe told parliamentary Question Time: “The government is working carefully with mills, and the impacts this decision has, and we’ll continue to work that through within that time frame.”
NSW Nationals Leader Dugald Saunders said: “The suggestion from the Minister that a package lasting only 10 weeks will properly support impacted workers and their families is nothing short of farcical.
“They now only have until November 16 to figure out how they will put food on the table. The Government is trying to promote this as a ‘job keeper’ style program when in fact it is a ‘job cutting’ regime.”
Originally published as Outraged timber workers claim the bush is out of sight, out of mind
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