CFMMEU boss blasts Daniel Andrews’ ‘stupid’ native timber logging ban
Daniel Andrews’s native timber logging ban has sparked a Labor war, with the CFMMEU declaring it is an “embarrassing, motley, half-baked, rag-tagged, mishmash of talking points”.
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Daniel Andrews’s ban on native timber logging has sparked a war in the Labor movement, with the forestry union blasting the plan as “a stupid, heartless decision”.
Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union national secretary Michael O’Connor said last night that it was an “embarrassing, motley, half-baked, rag-tagged, mishmash of talking points”.
“The government’s ham-fisted handling of this issue has sent a chill down the spine of not only timber workers but every blue-collar worker in the state,” he told the Herald Sun.
The Premier announced on Thursday that native timber logging would be phased out by 2030, logging in old-growth forests was banned immediately, and $120 million would be spent over a decade to help the industry transition.
The CFMMEU’s manufacturing division is considering ending its formal relationship with the Labor Party.
It says the policy risks mill closures and major job losses, lacks support for workers and communities, and gives environment groups “everything they want”, while also putting the future of Australian Paper — one of the Latrobe Valley’s biggest employers — in doubt.
“This is not the way to respond to an industry facing challenges,” Mr O’Connor said. “It is a stupid, heartless decision that is out of character for a government that had built a reputation of supporting blue-collar jobs and regional communities.
“This debacle also flies in the face of the understanding that our union has had with the Andrews Government since prior to its election in 2014.”
Mr Andrews said the government’s 30-year transition plan would provide “much-needed certainty for workers and their families”.
“This industry is going through a transition. It means it’s not good enough for us to merely cross our fingers and hope for the best,” Mr Andrews said.
But Mr O’Connor said it was extraordinary the government announced the move on the same day Labor’s federal election campaign review warned the party had alienated blue-collar workers.
“Rather than take for granted the votes of workers and ignoring the swings against Labor in blue-collar electorates — not just at the federal election but at the 2018 Victorian election — the Andrews Government should concede they’ve got this one completely wrong,” Mr O’Connor said.
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“It’s not just timber and forestry workers, but manufacturing, resources, power generation and mining workers and communities across Australia who will now, justifiably, be even more sceptical of Labor when they promise to deliver a ‘just transition’ as this fiasco speaks louder than their promises.”
Mr O’Connor said the union would “fight to ensure that workers, their families and their communities are not left on the scrap heap”.