Secret Andrews Government logging ban plans could wipe thousands of jobs

A SECRET Andrews Government plan to ban logging in Victorian native forests next decade could wipe out thousands of jobs across the state.

EXCLUSIVE: A SECRET Andrews Government plan to ban logging in Victorian native forests next decade could wipe out thousands of jobs across the state.

The Herald Sun can reveal State Cabinet will consider a controversial and detailed transition package that would end the state’s industry by 2029.

Taxpayers would likely cough up $500 million, with $340 million to go towards Australian Paper’s Maryvale Mill — the Latrobe Valley’s single biggest employer.

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Sources say the move could cut down 800 direct jobs in the timber, pulp and paper industry and leave more than 3000 throughout the supply chain in grave doubt.

It is understood Labor will not, however, back a longstanding Greens policy for a Great Forest National Park in the Central Highlands — a major timber harvesting region — north of Melbourne.

Fierce debate between environmentalists and industry relying on Victoria’s native forests has been largely focused on the state’s critically endangered faunal emblem, the leadbeater’s possum, with vast sections of forest blocked from logging.

If Cabinet approves the industry phase-out it would mean VicForests, the state-owned business that harvests, sells and regrows timber from State Forests, would also be phased out.

The Andrews Government has walked a fine like between pro-jobs and pro-environment policies to hold on to voters in inner-city electorates, but this move threatens to reopen a deep division within the Labor movement involving the powerful Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union.

The Andrews Government has walked a fine like between pro-jobs and pro-environment policies to hold on to voters in inner-city electorates. Picture: AAP/Stefan Postles

The CFMMEU will fiercely oppose a logging ban, with about 500 of the 900-strong workforce at Maryville mill union members, as well as most of the 250-employees at Hayfield’s Australian Sustainable Hardwoods mill. The Victorian Government paid $40 million to become a major shareholder in that business last year.

VicForests harvests about 0.05 per cent of native forest each year, with timber used in hardwood products such as furniture and flooring, as well as high-quality paper.

A phase-out would mean no Victorian-grown timber would be stocked at Bunnings and Mitre 10, with wood likely to be sourced instead from unregulated harvesting sites in Indonesia or South America.

Workers protest the closure of the Heyfield Mill last year. The Victorian Government paid $40 million to become a major shareholder. Picture: AAP/Tracey Nearmy

Sources told the Herald Sun a native forest logging ban would likely lead to at least 30 per cent of the Maryvale workforce being made redundant and trigger a major shift towards biomass and recycled packaging paper.

The mill has become critical to the economic fortunes of the Latrobe Valley since the Hazelwood power station closed last year.

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