Timber job losses: CFMEU brands DELWP a “rogue agency”

The powerful CFMEU has accused DELWP bureaucrats of “deliberately” increasing job losses in the timber and paper industries.

The CFMEU says Labor Government bureaucrats are blocking attempts to source hardwood pulp logs to keep workers employed at the Maryvale paper mill.

One of Australia’s most powerful unions has accused Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning of being “a rogue agency” that is undermining the forestry industry and jobs.

“Any reasonable person would look at the work DELWP is responsible for and conclude they are deliberately trying to increase the amount of job losses,” Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union manufacturing division national secretary Michael O’Connor said.

The union and VicForests have been trying to source timber in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that forces it and DELWP to resurvey coupes that were ready to be harvested, which will take months, and slashes the viability of harvesting others to protect greater glider possums.

At least 220 workers at the Maryvale Paper Mill face being stood down, due to the shortage of hardwood pulp logs, while hundreds more harvest, haulage and sawmill workers have lost or face losing their jobs.

The CFMEU has responded to the legal lockup of forests by trying to find alternate supplies of native forest hardwood logs from the Wombat Forest to keep its members in jobs at the Maryvale paper mill.

A CFMEU letter to members states “the Union are aware that there is a substantial amount of storm salvage timber available in the Wombat forest, however the DELWP have denied harvesting access to the timber”.

Harvest contractor Warren Fenner said he went up to the Wombat Forest six weeks ago to salvage fallen roadside trees, that came down in June 2021 storms that flattened large parts of the forest.

But he said DELWP ultimately stopped him salvaging the trees and he went home to Orbost.

“Local DELWP people wanted us to get it done, to clean up tens of thousands of fallen trees before the fire season,” Mr Fenner said. “But those senior people in DELWP don’t want the forest managed.”

However a DELWP spokesman said “all works to manage bushfire risk, including along storm affected roadsides have been suspended due to recent weather but will restart when possible to continue this important work.

“DELWP has engaged forest contractors, including VicForests, to remove storm debris from the June and October 2021 storms to reduce bushfire risk, rather than for timber harvesting purposes.

But the CFMEU has accused DELWP of frustrating its attempts earlier this year to access hardwood logs, due to injunctions put in place in the lead-up to this month’s Supreme Court ruling and orders.

“When your union attempted to undertake a survey of available alternative log supply options earlier this year, DELWP refused to co-operate with us,” the CFMEU told members.

Timber industry sources say DELWP had also done nothing in response to court orders that demand coupes be resurveyed.

But DELWP stated it was VicForests’ responsibility to undertake pre-harvest surveys to meet its legislative requirements, despite its own website stating it ran a Forest Protection Survey Program that “aims to survey at least 80 per cent of coupes in Gippsland, the Central Highlands and North-East regions planned for harvest each year”.

The Weekly Times has previously reported DELWP bureaucrats repeatedly blocked bids by the Dja Dja Wurrung and VicForests to clear 500,000 tonnes of windblown trees that had been left lying on the forest floor after a major storm hit the area in June last year.

It wasn’t until fire experts warned the windblown timber was a ticking fire bomb that Premier Daniel Andrews finally forced DELWP to open the forest to harvesting, until the latest stoppage.

The Weekly Times has also reported the Labor Government appointed key Labor Party loyalists to senior DELWP and the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions positions overseeing forestry.

DELWP’s forest policy director Lindsay Rayner is a long-term member of the ALP, joining the Northcote branch in 2003, before moving to the Reservoir branch, which sits within the Preston electorate.

Former DJPR Forestry and Climate Change policy and regulation executive director Nathan Lambert, who was the Australian Labor Party’s former assistant national secretary, was preselected as the party’s candidate for Preston, winning the seat on Saturday in a close fought battle with the Greens.

Former Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions forestry and climate change policy and regulation executive director Nathan Lambert has been elected as Labor MP for Preston.