NSW Nationals Leader and Member for Coffs Harbour Gurmesh Singh, Member for Clarence Richie Williamson and Member for Oxley Michael Kemp have slammed the Minns Labor Government’s decision to cut jobs at Forestry Corporation on the North Coast.
The MPs said staff have been informed via email that dozens of jobs, including more than 30 in Coffs Harbour alone, are to be cut at a time when regional communities and local economies are already under enormous pressure from Labor Government policies.
“Before the election Chris Minns and Labor promised to help regional workers transition out of forestry. Today, they’re putting politics over people and science,” the MPs said.
Critics of the park have included the Timber, Furnishing and Textiles Union, which has publicly declared the carbon method funding the Great Koala National Park should be dumped because it rewards locking forests away instead of managing them.
“There shouldn’t be an incentive for future governments to lock up land simply to fill government coffers without solid scientific rationale.
“With timber harvesting already halted under the moratorium, as well as this current round of job cuts, it’s unclear how the government will be able to claim any carbon credits for this project.
“The NSW timber industry is among the most sustainable in the world, operating under some of the highest environmental standards while providing a resource that is desperately needed during a housing crisis.
“Chris Minns said it himself – he does not understand regional communities. And he never will.
“Today is yet another sad day for the hardworking men and women at Forestry Corporation who are paying the price for Labor’s budget mismanagement.”
