Guy Barnett,Minister for Resources
The Tasmanian Government has full confidence in our comprehensive Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) and is fully prepared to fight its legality in court in order to protect Tasmanian businesses, jobs and communities.
I am advised that Sustainable Timber Tasmania are taking the proactive step, following consultation with industry, to suspend operations in a limited number of coupes.
This will allow the case against the legality of the RFA by the Bob Brown Foundation to be brought forward and resolved sooner, to provide certainty for Tasmanian workers.
It simply beggars belief that during the greatest health and economic crisis in a generation, the Bob Brown Foundation is escalating its campaign to damage our sustainably managed forest industry and put thousands of hard working Tasmanians out of work, destroying families and rural communities.
We know the Greens don’t care about rural and regional Tasmania, but in the current environment, this is a new low – even worse than the job-destroying forestry deal under the Labor-Green Government that devastated communities and cost two out of every three jobs in the industry.
Tasmanians can be reassured that our forests are sustainably managed with some of the most stringent environmental protections in the world.
We are committed to improving practices while supporting this important sector that employs thousands of Tasmanians, injects more than $1.2 billion into our economy and supports regional communities and families across the State.
