Timber worker payouts mean, says industry

Many timber workers will receive a “paltry handout” from the Andrews Government as it moves to phase out native forest logging from 2024.

Orbost harvest and haulage contractor Rob Brunt has 20 workers who will get just $7000 each from the Andrews Government when they leave the industry. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

TIMBER workers forced out of Victoria’s forests and onto the dole queue are being offered less than half the amount their predecessors were paid by the former Bracks Labor Government almost 20 years ago.

Victorian Auditor General analysis of the Bracks Government’s Our Forest Our Future package, which aimed to reduce logging in State Forests by a third, showed workers were paid an average of $31,274 in 2003, plus training and relocation allowances, equivalent to $46,000 in today’s money.

In contrast the current Andrews Government’s Victorian Forestry Plan states: “the government’s total top-up is capped at $23,000”, which means the average payment would be even less.

Cartoon: Chris Rule

Premier Daniel Andrews announced the plan in 2019 after ruling native forest logging was unsustainable and would come to an end by 2030, with the wind-down starting in 2024.

Orbost harvest and haulage contractor Rob Brunt said “what worries me is that I have 20 blokes and their exit package is worth about $7000.

“How long would $7000 last a family of five?”

The impact on Mr Blunt’s business is just as severe, given the Andrews Government has capped total compensation for each harvest and haulage contractor’s plant and equipment at $250,000 to cover what it calls “items that have not been fully depreciated and are unable to be sold”.

Unlike 2003, Mr Blunt said there was virtually no market for much of his gear, which includes specialised trailers, skidders, harvesters and felling machines worth many millions of dollars.

He said the cost of a harvester alone, which debarks and cuts logs to length, was $750,000-$1 million.

“I could do $300,000 on that alone,” Mr Blunt said.

Forest and Wood Communities Australia director Justin Law said “the paltry handouts to regional Victorian forest communities are an insult”.

“We’re not just talking about small family contract workers who have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in specialised machinery, but their communities where mechanics, shop owners, schools, sports clubs and community groups will all be impacted.”

Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas’ office stated the Government was “working with industry and communities to deliver the conditions that support future jobs.

“It is investing $120m to move the industry forward in a proactive way.”