Labor blocks VicForests bid: Minister says no to recovering $2m from anti-logging activists

Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas has told VicForests to back off taking legal action to recover a $2m debt from anti-logging activists.

Victorian Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas’s office says she only expressed an opinion in regard to VicForests recovering court-ordered legal costs form anti-logging activists.

The State Government has told VicForests to back off taking legal action to recover $2 million in taxpayers’ funds from the anti-logging group MyEnvironment.

The move has led the timber industry and Opposition to accuse the Government of going soft on environmental activists, as it prepares to battle the Greens in key inner city seats at November’s state election.

The Weekly Times can also reveal Labor loyalists have been appointed to departmental positions overseeing forestry policy, with one recently preselected as the party’s candidate in the key electorate of Preston.

Timber industry sources say Labor ministers have repeatedly “leaned on” VicForests not to recover $1.2 million it was owed by the MyEnvironment group.

The debt is the result of a 2015 Supreme Court order demanding MyEnvironment cover VicForests legal costs after the anti-logging activists lost a case it brought against the state-owned forest harvest manager.

Since then the $1.2m debt has ballooned to $2m on the back of unpaid interest.

The Weekly Times understands VicForests recently received legal advice that it had fresh grounds to pursue the recovery of the debt from MyEnvironment and its directors.

But it also understands Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas immediately stepped in, writing a letter directing VicForests not to take action against MyEnvironment.

After repeated questioning over the past week Ms Thomas finally admitted she had written to the VicForests’ board, but her office stated “no direction” was given in regard to recovering the court-ordered legal costs from the anti-logging group.

A Government spokeswoman said the Minister simply expressed “an opinion” based on her own department’s legal advice in regard to recovering the money from MyEnvironment.

After publishing these details in The Weekly Times today, the paper understands Ms Thomas then directed VicForests chairman Chirs Lovell to issue a statement that “the Minister for Agriculture did not direct VicForests Board regarding the judgement debt owed by MyEnvironment Inc.”

The paper has consequently lodged a Freedom of Information request seeking a copy of the Minister’s original letter to VicForests expressing her “opinion” on recovering the debt.

The Weekly Times can also reveal long-term Labor loyalists have been appointed to key forestry policy and regulation roles within the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions and Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.

DJPR Forestry and Climate Change policy and regulation executive director Nathan Lambert is the Australian Labor Party’s former assistant national secretary and a member of its Geelong West branch as of late last year.

Last December Mr Lambert gained preselection as the ALP’s candidate for Preston, an electorate that Labor is battling to defend against the Greens in a campaign where native forest logging and the formation of a new Great Forests National Park are set to be key issues. Mr Lambert remains employed by DJPR, where he has worked for the past three years.

The Weekly Times can also reveal current DELWP forest policy director Lindsay Rayner is another long-term member of the ALP, joining the Northcote branch in 2003, before moving to the Reservoir branch, which sits within the Preston electorate. He was a forestry adviser to former Environment Minister Gavin Jennings.

The Weekly Times understands Mr Rayner plays a key role as one of the Department’s top bureaucrats acting as one of the Government’s gatekeepers on forestry issues.

In addition the former head of DJPR’s Forest Industry Strategy group Tim Sonnreich, who held the position from December 2018 to April 2020, is a long-time active member of the ALP’s Brunswick branch and now works as Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio’s chief of staff.

The Weekly Times is not suggesting any of these departmental staff have behaved inappropriately.

A Victorian Government spokesman said “all appointments, including executives, were based on merit and in line with the Public Administration Act 2004”.

“All employees have an obligation under the Code of Conduct to remain impartial and apolitical in the course of their work,” the spokesman said.

Just last year IBAC released a report into corruption and integrity that found an increasing number of public servants were concerned about political interference, responding with comments such as: “Government appears to be making decisions that are not in the interest of the state, but rather their political careers” and “Bad or inconsistent decisions get made because of political pressure”.

Victorian Deputy Opposition Leader and Agriculture spokesman Peter Walsh said it was clear the Government was willing to “sacrifice regional Victorias jobs” to win inner-city seats.

“I think the fact the Minister (Thomas) intervened to discourage VicForests from recovering money from MyEnvironment confirms the government is quite happy for activists to destroy the timber industry,” Mr Walsh said.

Fifth-generation Yarra Valley timber worker Brett Robin said he was “dumbfounded” by what was going on.

“If it was you or me that owed the government money we’d have to pay it, so why shouldn’t MyEnvironment?” Mr Robin said. “I thought the Labor Party stood up for workers, but it’s not so.”

CHIPPING AWAY AT TIMBER JOBS

Cut down: Powelltown timber mill workers have been told their industry is not sustainable by Premier Daniel Andrews, who refuses to release the science behind his decision.

In November 2019 Premier Daniel Andrews stunned 2500 workers and business owners reliant on the timber industry with the announcement Labor would phase out native forest harvesting by 2030.

Mr Andrews has repeatedly told the media and parliament since then that native forest logging is “not sustainable into the medium and long term”, but has refused to release the science and rationale behind the claim.

Timber communities have lodged Freedom of Information requests for the data and scientific basis for the phase-out with Mr Andrew’s office, which has told them it “undertook a thorough and diligent search for documents, however no documents relevant to your request were identified”.

GREEN LAWFARE OVERLOAD

Green lawfare: Anti-logging protesters cost VicForests $4.8m last financial year.

VicForests has been swamped with green lawfare cases, costing it $4.8 million in 2020-21 alone.

The state’s harvest manager currently faces 10 court actions by environmental groups, with one of those leading Supreme Court Justice Melinda Jane Richards to slap injunctions on any coupe last December where a Greater Glider possum had been spotted.

Timber harvesting ground to a halt across Victoria’s Central Highlands and East Gippsland in the wake of the pre-Christmas ruling, with VicForests struggling to find backup coupes.

Justice Richards’ ruling does not require environmentalists to provide proof that they have spotted a Greater Glider in a coupe for it to be declared off limits.

NO SUPPORT

Environment Minister Lily D'Ambrosio refuses to close a legislative loophole allowing activists to take legal action against VicForests.

Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio has refused appeals from Forest and Wood Communities Australia to close a loophole that allows activists to take legal action against VicForests under the state’s Sustainable Forests (Timber) Act 2004 for breaches to the Code of Practice for Timber Production.

The FWCA has argued breaches of the Code should be dealt with by DELWP and the Conservation Regulator, not by activists mounting court action.

The NSW Government has already blocked third-party litigation under Section 40 of the state’s Forestry and National Park Estate Act.

Even the EPA in Victoria has protection from the public taking legal action against it.

But Ms D’Ambrosio has previously told The Weekly Times “the Andrews Labor Government does not agree that there is a ‘loophole’ in the legislation and is continually working to improve environmental standards, including the revision of the Timber Code of Practice to improve clarity and enforceability for timber workers, environmentalists, and the Conservation Regulator,” Ms D’Ambrosio’s office said.

PUSHING UP PENALTIES

Endangered species: Timber workers say they’ve been abandoned by the Labor Party, as they battle to be heard.

The Andrews Government passed new laws last October allowing its officers to seize timber harvest and haulage contractors documents and slap them with penalties of $21,808 for an individual and $109,044 for corporations if they breach a code that is still under review.

The laws grant DELWP the right to halt harvesting and the Office of the Conservation Regulator the power to demand contractors hand over diaries and documents, to check for breaches of the Code of Practice for Timber Harvesting.

The Forests Legislation Amendment (Compliance and Enforcement) Bill was rammed through parliament in the 24 hours, despite strong opposition from the powerful CFMEU, timber communities and Liberal-Nationals.

Originally published as Labor blocks VicForests bid: Minister says no to recovering $2m from anti-logging activists