Legal fights mean no ‘certainty’ for Victorian logging industry

Tim Pallas says ongoing litigation means it would be impossible to have ‘certainty’ in the logging industry.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos MAY 24, 2023: Victorian treasurer Tim Pallas outlines the key features of the Victorian budget at The Melbourne Press Club lunch at Crown Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

Regulation cannot facilitate sustainable native logging in Victoria, the state’s Treasurer says a day after announcing the industry will end five years ahead of schedule in January 2024.

Tim Pallas made the comments at a Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry function on Wednesday, following multiple years-long cases in the Supreme Court over concerns VicForests failed to properly protect threatened species in East Gippsland and the Central Highlands.

“Certainly from our perspective, the challenges that we have confronted with constant legal actions, honestly have lent us to the view, and certainly the legal advice we got from the solicitor general is that there is no way that we can get to a point where there is certainty of being able to extract resources out of our native forests,” he said.

“I don’t say this with any degree of satisfaction. We don’t do this with any degree of happiness.

“But we have had people basically sitting at home basically being paid by the state. It’s just not fair to those communities to pretend that we have a pathway through.”

In response to the comments, CFMEU national secretary Michael O’Connor asked why the government could not have waited until a decision was handed down in the appeal of a landmark case against VicForests, which found it failed to protect greater gliders effectively. “I understand the dilemma the government had was difficult but maybe if we have worked together … the process might have been better,” he said.

ANGELICA SNOWDEN