Senator warns environmentalists forestry industry is part of climate change solution

A Labor Senator has blasted inner city environmentalists over opposition to the forestry industry, warning they are imperilling thousands of jobs and retarding climate change responses.

Senator Raff Ciccone has warned green groups and other critics to work with the Australian forestry industry to provide sustainable timber solutions.

An Albanese government MP has blasted inner city environmentalists over their opposition to the nation’s forestry industry, warning they are imperilling thousands of jobs and retarding meaningful climate change responses that include allowing local producers to deliver sustainable products.

Senator Raff Ciccone has warned green groups and other critics to work with the Australian forestry industry to provide sustainable timber solutions that cut the risk of foreign countries smashing their own timber supplies without deep consideration to the state of the environment.

Senator Ciccone said that opponents of timber workers in the key forestry states were missing the point that demand for timber production was not diminishing, meaning any shortfall in product would be sourced from other countries, which may not have the same commitment to sustainability and the drive to be part of the climate change solution.

Senator Raff Ciccone.

“They are destroying an industry that should be part of the solution,” he warned.

Instead, he said, it was crucial that opponents needed to “work with the industry, grow the industry”, to help protect thousands of jobs and encourage more investment in solutions like hardwood plantations.

In a recent statement to the parliament, Senator Ciccone blasted the role of environmentalists in Victoria, where the forestry industry is under extreme pressure after the Andrews government announced plans to halve the state’s native forest industry from 2024 and shut it down completely by 2030.

A recent Supreme Court decision has also threatened the future of the native timber industry in Victoria, ordering stricter rules for the government-owned VicForests, finding it had broken the law by failing to protect the yellow-bellied glider and the endangered greater glider.

Senator Ciconne told the Senate that with growing demand for timber products, there was risk that demand would be met by unsustainably sourced timber or by other products that do not have the same climate benefits or may contribute to higher emissions.

“This is one of the great frustrations that I have with environmentalists,’’ he said on November 23. “They do everything they can to disrupt the forestry industry in my home state of Victoria.

“We have one of the most sustainable forestry industries in the world, with very strict regulations, but nothing is ever enough for these activists, most of whom live in the inner city and have never spoken to a timber worker in their life.

“But they are hellbent on destroying the livelihoods of thousands of workers and affecting dozens of regional communities.

“What actually happens when these people succeed in their goal of disrupting Australia’s sustainable industry forests?

“Demand for timber products doesn’t decrease. Instead buyers and consumers have to source these products from forests overseas that are not sustainably managed. I’ve never heard one of the activists explain how this is good for the environment or lowers our emissions.”

CFMEU manufacturing national secretary Michael O’Connor said the desire was to enhance environmental protection but still produce wood fibre in significant amounts to protect jobs and look after local communities.

The forestry industry was not the biggest threat to the environment, he said.

“Climate change is clearly the biggest threat to habitat,” he said.

Victorian Nationals MP Melina Bath said it was “absolute false environmentalism” to shut down the native timber industry, adding green groups were often elective in their use of science.

“There is a breadth of science about the sustainability of the native timber industry,” she said.