yesterday at 12:29
,Germany
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has warned that thousands of jobs in Tasmania could be lost following what she called a "dirty deal" between the government and the Greens to pass new environment laws. Speaking ahead of a speech to the Tasmanian Liberals state council, Ms Ley described the overhaul of Australia’s environment protection regime, passed by parliament last Friday, as a "death knell to the forestry sector on the Apple Isle."
The forestry industry, which employs tens of thousands nationwide and has a significant presence in Tasmania, will no longer be exempt from national environmental standards. As part of the reforms, Labor announced a $300 million support package intended to secure jobs and maintain output.
However, Ms Ley criticized the package, saying: "I'm standing now in Tasmania, where hard-working businesses, sawmillers, people in the native forest timber industry, are staring down the barrel of something called a life support package. Well you don't put a life support package on the table unless you want to kill an industry. And that's what's happening here in Tasmania."
The Australian Forest Products Association has voiced "grave concerns for the native forestry sector," warning that the removal of Regional Forest Agreements—long-term management plans that allowed loggers to bypass the federal environment protection act—will strangle the sector in "green tape" and threaten future plantation investment.
The reforms passed after Labor, which had been negotiating with both the coalition and the Greens, ultimately struck a deal with the minor party. Ms Ley rejected criticism that she had not met with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese or done more to negotiate a better outcome for businesses, stating: "This is a very bad bill, unnecessarily rushed, done for political reasons."
Ms Ley also disputed government claims that the new laws would speed up project approvals, citing warnings from industry groups that the changes could push up electricity prices. "And now we've got this dirty deal, not done dirt cheap," she said.
In response, Labor frontbencher Katy Gallagher defended the legislation, arguing that it "would bring forestry in line with every other industry and help speed up assessment pathways for projects."
