Tasmanian Liberals’ bid to open more forests to logging has failed in the Upper House
THE State Government has ramped up the election rhetoric after its second defeat of marquee bills in the Upper House in the space of two days with a third bill delayed again.
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THE Liberals say they won’t alter their course on forestry, even after their plan to open more forests to logging failed to pass the Upper House.
The Liberals wanted to open 365,000ha of additional forest land to logging for special species from later this year — and to other users from next year. They argued the additional timber was essential to the industry’s future.
However, a majority of MLCs did not buy the Government’s argument and the Bill was voted down 7-5.
Five independents and Labor’s two MLCs voted against the Government.
The result has defused a conflict over Tasmanian forests for the time being.
Resources Minister Guy Barnett blamed Labor for the Bill’s failure and said the Government would not reconsider its stance on forestry.
“We will seek out a fresh mandate at the next election to unlock these production forests,” he said.
Mr Barnett would not shoulder any blame for the legislation’s failure.
“We were elected, we have that mandate, we are trying to implement that mandate, it’s being blocked in the Upper House by Labor,” he said.
Mr Barnett said without access to additional timber, Forestry Tasmania would need $100 million in subsidies over the next four years or hundreds of jobs would be lost.
Environmentalists and the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania had lobbied against the forestry Bill.
Environmentalists said the expanded logging areas, which had been set aside under the Tasmanian forest peace deal, contained high-conservation forests.
FIAT said the plan would threaten the industry’s future by leading to a return of forest wars.
None of FIAT’s members wanted access to the timber.
However the special species sector and some small sawmills had implored the Government to open new areas.
Tasmanian Special Timbers Alliance spokesman Andrew Denman said the industry’s survival depended on being able to access more timber.
“The Special Timbers sector now faces further uncertainty, and TSTA calls on all sides of politics to support changes to existing legislation to ensure the sector’s survival,” he said.
Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said the Greens would push for the areas to be protected from logging for good.
“This is a two-year reprieve for some of the most spectacular, carbon-rich forests on the planet,” she said.
“For the Liberals and Minister Barnett, this is what happens when you try to use the legislative process for purely political purposes to divide the community. Guy Barnett can throw a tantrum, accuse Labor and malign Upper House members but this all sits on his head.”
Labor resources spokesman David Llewellyn said the Liberals should work constructively with the industry and Labor on a way forward.
“The forestry legislation defeated today in the Legislative Council did not have the support of the vast majority of the forest industry,” Mr Llewellyn said.
“The Government now has a clear choice to either be divisive or constructive.”
Push for new bid on jailing child abusers
Child abuse victims are bitterly disappointed over the Legislative Council’s rejection of mandatory jail laws.
The State Government’s Bill to jail serious child sex offenders for a minimum of two or four years was defeated in the Legislative Council on Wednesday night.
MORE: UPPER HOUSE KNOCKS DOWN SEX CRIMES BILL
Beyond Abuse said it was at a loss to understand why some MPs voted down the Bill given “the havoc that sexual assault wreaks on society”.
“Instead of listening to the people that really count — and that’s the victims ... they’re listening to other people … and that is so wrong,” spokesman Steven Fisher said. “A lot of victims I’ve spoken to this morning are just so disappointed.”
But the Law Society of Tasmania commended MLCs who rejected the Bill.
“The Sentencing Advisory Council’s report found there is no evidence that mandatory sentences deter crimes of this type,” society president Rohan Foon said.
‘For the Government to say that members of the Legislative Council have therefore failed to ‘protect our kids from paedophiles’ is wrong in fact and in no way assists in a rational debate on such an important issue.”
In expressing disappointment, Tasmania’s Sexual Assault Support Service urged the Government to explore other ways to strengthen sentences against abusers.
“Sentences need to reflect the magnitude of harm that child sexual abuse causes to victims and their families, and we feel that current sentences all too often do not do this,” said Jill Maxwell, the group’s chief executive.
Tasmania’s Australian Lawyers Alliance president Henry Pill said the Government’s own experts had opposed mandatory sentencing.
“They need to go back to the drawing board and come up with a justice policy that stands up to scrutiny,” he said.
Police Association of Tasmania president Pat Allen urged people that were disappointed with the outcome to express it at the ballot box.
– PATRICK BILLINGS
Anti-Discrimination changes on hold
Changes to the state’s Anti-Discrimination Act have stalled with debate on the Government’s Bill delayed until at least mid-August.
Not wanting to risk a possible third legislative defeat in the Upper House in a week, the Government set the Bill aside until after Parliament’s seven-week winter break.
The Liberals’ amendments to the Act seek to broaden protections against being prosecuted for offending people, particularly in the context of state and national debates around issues including same-sex marriage.
Offending someone on the grounds of their sexuality, for instance, would be defendable if done for a “religious purpose” under the changes. The changes were proposed in the interests of freedom of speech.
Churches had pushed for the changes, including the section prohibiting “offending” people.
However, groups representing the legal and multicultural communities, people with disabilities, the LGBTI community and others have strongly urged MLCs to reject the changes for fear they will lead to increased hate speech.
Former Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Robin Banks also warned against the changes, saying a time of increasingly extreme political rhetoric was not the time to water down protections for vulnerable people.
The next opportunity for the Bill to face a vote will be when Parliament resumes in mid-August.
The Bill has been with the Upper House since November and debate has been repeatedly pushed back.
The amendments are considered to be at high risk of failure with Labor opposed and several independent MLCs expressing doubt about the need for the changes.
Rather than debating the Anti-Discrimination Bill on Thursday, the Legislative Council’s last sitting afternoon for seven weeks was spent debating planned legislation to address neighbourhood disputes over trees.
– BLAIR RICHARDS
Mystery over ministers’ legal fees
The state government has shelled out more than $200,000 so far this year to cover legal costs run up by a minister or ministers — but won’t say who or what for.
Teen kept in cell with no mattress, but conditions improving: report
A teenage prisoner was kept in a cell without a mattress or any personal items under an unsanctioned “hostile management regime” at the Risdon Prison Complex, a report has found.