Forests: ever-greater subsidies no answer

Mark Cowie, Trentham The Age (letter), 9/7/2001

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There is little doubt that the timber industry welcomes Sherryl Garbutt's recent efforts to prop up the ailing and outmoded logging industry in Victoria's native forests. But what is the taxpayer to make of the decision to fund the logging industry to the tune of $42.6 million to create just 100 new jobs? This equates to $426,000 per job created.

This is hardly prudent government expenditure for an industry that is in desperate need of wide-ranging and independent review. Nor does the gravy train end there for the logging industry. Over the next six months the Commonwealth and State Governments will shell out an additional $9 million to assist the industry to continue to over-log Victoria's native forests.

The unprecedented woodchipping and logging of public native forests must stop. Instead, the Bracks Government and the trade union movement should concentrate efforts to assist the industry in this era to meet the challenges of producing commercial timber in other ways, in particular, the transition away from logging of native forests to plantation resources.

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