State election: New forestry wars erupts over Libs policy, TasCOSS plea to help poor, ALP’s low-interest loans pledge
On day 16 of the Tasmanian election campaign Forestry wars have erupted once again, TasCOSS says remember the poor and ALP has vowed to continue the low-interest loans scheme.
Politics
Don't miss out on the headlines from Politics. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Political candidates must commit to improving the lives of disadvantaged Tasmanians who are forced to regularly skip meals, miss medical appointments, and go into debt just to pay rent and power bills, the state’s peak community services body says.
Political candidates must commit to improving the lives of disadvantaged Tasmanians who are forced to regularly skip meals, miss medical appointments, and go into debt just to pay rent and power bills, the state’s peak community services body says.
The Tasmanian Council of Social Service (TasCOSS) released its six state election priorities on Thursday, urging Tasmania’s next government to show compassion, work to end homelessness, and properly fund the community services industry so it can provide the support people need.
TasCOSS CEO Adrienne Picone said many Tasmanians told her they simply wanted “a good life” and to be able to participate in the community.
“What we know is that many times we are hearing announcements [from politicians] that are just Band-Aid solutions,” she said.
“They don’t address some of our entrenched problems, like poverty and inequality, head-on. And that’s what Tasmanians want to see from our next government.”
TasCOSS’s election priorities include reducing homelessness and implementing stronger protections for renters; bringing down power bills; improving food security and nutrition; providing affordable and accessible public transport; closing the state’s digital divide, and; making sure Tasmanians can readily access support from community service organisations.
Labor commits to low interest loans extension
The boss of Tasmania’s No Interest Loans Scheme program has welcomed an election commitment from the Labor Party to boost funding for the organisation by $800,000 per annum, saying it would protect vulnerable Tasmanians from predatory lending.
Announcing the promise on Thursday, Labor spokesperson for Community Services and Development, Sarah Lovell, said a Rebecca White-led government would also guarantee funding for the Energy Saver Loan Scheme for another four years.
The not-for-profit NILS program was established in 2002 to provide low-income Tasmanians with access to safe and affordable loans.
NILS chief executive John Hooper backed Labor’s commitment, saying it would help offer more Tasmanians the assistance they required to stay on their feet financially.
“This funding will enable thousands more loans and support the Tasmanian economy,” Mr Hooper said.
“For every dollar of operational funding, $9 is loaned and circulated into the Tasmanian community and economy.”
Ms Lovell said that with the Energy Saver Loan Scheme currently funded only until the end of the financial year, Labor was determined to offer certainty for Tasmanians doing it tough with power bills during a cost of living crisis.
“The Energy Saver Loan Scheme gives them the opportunity to upgrade to efficient, longer lasting and better-quality appliances like heat pumps, without the expensive upfront costs,” Ms Lovell said.
New forestry wars erupt
Tasmania’s forestry wars have erupted once again with news that a re-elected Liberal government would ‘unlock’ 40,000ha of native Tasmanian forests for logging.
Resources Minister Felix Ellis and Premier Jeremy Rockliff says the move would provide high-quality sawlogs for Tasmanian sawmillers.
“The Liberals are the strongest supporters of Tasmania’s high-value native forestry industry, backing in Tasmanian sawmillers, contractors, and local jobs,” Premier Jeremy Rockliff said.
“Under the devastating Labor-Greens Tasmanian Forestry Agreement signed in 2011, the area of production forest land in Tasmania was nearly halved and wood supply to local sawmillers was gutted.
“Timber communities across the State were decimated and two out of every three jobs in the sector were sacrificed by Labor seeking to appease the Greens.
“Following our election in 2014, we rescued 356,000 hectares of production native forest from being permanently locked up, and set it aside in a “wood bank” – the Future Potential Production Forest – for a rainy day.
“That rainy day has now arrived.”
Mr Rockliff said with the closure of native forest industries in Western Australia and Victoria and growing global demand, now was the right time to drawn on the resource.
He said the decision would make available an additional 158,000 cubic metres of high-quality sawlogs to Tasmanian industry – an annual increase of up to 10 per cent.
The decision has been condemned by the Bob Brown Foundation.
“The Liberals’ commitment to destroy 40,000ha of Tasmania’s wild and scenic forests, set aside for conservation under the Tasmanian Forest Agreement, may see me, for one, spending time in jail for peacefully defending those forests and their wildlife,” Bob Brown said.
“I expect there will be hundreds more arrested for defending the forests despite the Liberals’ draconian anti-protests laws, and Tasmania will be plunged into a dark age of global condemnation for destroying this natural heritage. Most of the forests will go to woodchips exported to China and Taiwan though, deceitfully, Rockliff never mentions the word ‘woodchips’,” he said.
“One of the most scandalous things about this proposal is that industry has already been compensated with taxpayers’ funds for withdrawing from these very forests. The 2013 agreement between Premier Giddings and Prime Minister Gillard provided $58m for this purpose.”
Former Liberal and now Lyons independent John Tucker said the Liberal move would be a backward step.
“The Premier’s plan to restart the Tasmanian forest wars will not deliver one extra log to any mill in Tasmania,” he said.
“Instead, it will put every job in the native forest sector at risk by inviting intervention of the major retailers who control the industries supply line.
“The announcement today is a cruel hoax designed to deceive voters ahead of the state election.
“It ignores the market power of major retailers which was a crucial factor in the agreement reached in 2012.”
Tasmania Greens Leader Rosalie Woodruff condemned the Liberal’s forestry move describing it as “appalling”.
“Not satisfied with their decade of destruction, now the Liberals have announced they are going to follow through on years of threats by expanding logging operations into 356,000ha of the high conservation value forests that are supposed to be protected,” Dr Woodruff said.
“This is pure politics in an election campaign. Their divisive decision is a climate crime, and will be opposed by Tasmanians from all walks of life.
“Over the past 10 years Liberal and Labor politicians have been in lockstep, cheering on the native forest logging industry. Given the Liberals’ announcement, the question now for Labor is simple – will they oppose this outright? Or will they fold once again, and back the Liberals, as they’ve done so many times before?”
Labor’s resources spokesman Shane Broad accused the Liberals of using forestry as a “political football”.
“Clearly, the Liberals’ announcement is nothing more than a stunt,” Dr Broad said.
“The state’s forestry industry has been plagued by supply issues and these concerns have been raised with the Liberals on numerous occasions.
“The Liberals could have acted when they were in government for 10 years, but they chose not to.”
Dr Broad said the Labor Party would announce it’s forestry policy in the coming days.
Tough draw for Lyons hopeful, while Clark stronghold snags number one
An independent has secured the number one spot on the ballot in Clark in the upcoming federal election — but Labor’s star candidate in Lyons has ended up at the bottom.
MAPPED: Record-breaking Aussie voter numbers revealed
A record number of Australians will vote in the 2025 federal election, a fact the Australian Electoral Commissioner says “doesn’t happen by accident”.