Tasmania’s proposed peace deal to end logging conflict in its native forests is in tatters after the Federal Government’s refusal to provide hefty financial support for more forest national parks and a smaller timber industry.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday repeated her demand for the Tasmanian Government to “step up to its responsibilities” and find the necessary cash.
She bluntly told the Bartlett Government it should look to “access” its own revenue and $22.4 million of federal money made available last month to fund industry dislocation flowing from an end to logging.
“I want to say to all stakeholders, no one should expect a blank cheque here,” she said.
“No one should expect us to be there just listening to claims and then responding to them.”
But the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania warned that the October deal between environmentalists and industry players could not work without a federal aid package of up to $800 million.
Association chief executive Terry Edwards said 50 contractors and up to 750 workers were set to lose their jobs by March because of the huge changes demanded by largely city-based public opinion.
“This restructure is allegedly what has been demanded by the broader Australian community, by people who say they don’t want to see logging of Tasmania’s native forests, and who want wedge-tailed eagles and swift parrots protected,” Mr Edwards said.
“We say that protection comes at a cost to Tasmania in opportunities lost, so it therefore is a cost that must be borne by the public purse and all Australians.”
Mr Edwards said the cash-strapped Tasmanian Government could not provide any of the necessary funding without a severe impact on the state’s health, education and infrastructure budgets.
New Treasurer Lara Giddings told a business forum yesterday in Hobart there was “no hay left in the barn” after the global financial crisis.
Scott McLean, Tasmanian secretary of the main forestry union, the CFMEU, said the deal agreed to by unionists could collapse if there were no generous compensation packages for disaffected workers.
The lack of federal funding and doubts about whether a moratorium on logging old-growth forests had started forced Premier David Bartlett to ask for two days of breathing space yesterday to sort out confused details with the Federal Government.
But Mr Bartlett welcomed the Gillard Government’s engagement in “a policy sense” and said he had never been looking for “big dollops of money”.
He hopes other pools of federal funding may still be applicable to help during the forest reform process, possibly relating to regional development or climate change, to assist Tasmanian communities and workers through the tough years ahead.
