Beverly McArthur, MP, Member for Western Victoria , Media Release, 21 September 2021

An attempt by Labor to increase penalties and offences for timber workers and timber harvesting has nothing to do with forest management, and everything to do with inner-city politics.

Member for Western Victoria  Bev McArthur, has told the Victorian Parliament that Labor’s legislation is about sacrificing jobs in the bush to appease inner-city ideologues.

Even the CFMEU is opposed to Labor’s desire to rush through legislative changes, noting the potential legal impact on workers and a vital industry.

“It is about the Labor Government endeavouring to outgreen the Greens in their competitive inner-city seats without a care for country constituents,” Mrs McArthur said.

“It’s more about winning elections than good forestry management.”

She told the parliament that the legislation is without need, is highly flawed and being rushed through under the cover of COVID.

“This is about an ideological objection to the timber industry.  They hate the timber industry – and one can only assume they hate the timber industry workers as well.

“The greatest threat to our forest and native species is not the timber industry.

“It is those who wish to lock up the forests and throw away the keys – an approach which causes increased fuel loads, bushfire intensity and reduced access to vitally needed hardwood timber product.

“Indeed, timber workers are among the first to respond to bushfire emergencies. Their passion to save the forest, lives and property is legendary. They use their own machinery and risk their own lives in response to fire catastrophies in forest areas.

“In truth – they are the `real greens’: they genuinely care for the forest and sustainability – and they do it with integrity, not for popularity.”

The CFMEU’s National Secretary of the Manufacturing Division, Michael O’Connor, wrote to all MPs prior to the legislation being debated in the Victorian Parliament last week.

Mr O’Connor asked that the Bill be ‘urgently’ removed from the notice paper and said it “…should not proceed for debate in the Legislative Council until there is proper consultation with our union and those businesses, contractors, and workers the Bill will impact and there is an agreement about an acceptable pathway forward.”

Mrs McArthur agreed with the CFMEU’s position that the Bill was being rushed through, and in doing so, pre-empted a Code of Practice for Timber Production.

The CFMEU argued the Bill failed to consider “the impact of bushfires, the increasing third party litigation against VicForests, and the impact on wood supply to the building industry”, and suggested the legislation would “…embolden the behaviour of workplace invaders and environment groups in their attempt to shut down the industry.”

“I am most interested that we are on a unity ticket with Mr O’Connor from the CFMEU. Now this is a wonderful thing, you’ve got to admit,” Mrs McArthur told the Parliament.

“Anyone trying to build a house right now is well aware of what Australia’s timber shortage is doing for prices and wait times on their construction.

“If the timber isn’t coming from a sustainable, legislated, regulated, compliant industry in Australia – it’s coming from overseas where those standards may not be met,” she said.

In its battle with the Greens, Mrs McArthur said Labor is being short-sighted and blind to reality.

“That is the unfortunate hypocrisy of this debate – they scream sustainability – and then try and kill off one of the most renewable, sustainable industries we have.

“Do they want to turn timber workers into baristas – for what? To serve Brunswick and Fitzroy ideologues soy lattes?

“Labor should not talk with a forked tongue about the importance of jobs when it is actively trying to destroy jobs in rural Victoria,” she said.

Thankfully, at this point in time, this appalling piece of legislation has not completed its passage through the Parliament.