Guy Barnett,Minister for Resources
It is extremely disappointing to hear that radical protesters from the Bob Brown Foundation are once again disrupting the rights of Tasmanians to earn a lawful living.
These dangerous protest actions cost Sustainable Timber Tasmania, private contractors and individual workers thousands of dollars every day, and require police to redirect resources from important community safety activity to remove people from machinery and gates.
During the greatest health and economic crisis in a generation, it is simply astounding – but sadly not surprising- that the Bob Brown Foundation is actively trying to destroy Tasmanian jobs.
And if the hypocrisy wasn’t bad enough, these protests are taking place on Permanent Timber Production Zone (PTPZ) land specifically set aside by both Houses of State Parliament.
We stand by Tasmanian workers and businesses, which is why we are committed to protecting the rights of law-abiding Tasmanian workers from extremist protesters through our Workplace Protection laws, despite opposition from Labor and the Greens.
We will continue to stand up for Tasmanian workers and our renewable, sustainable forestry industry that contributes around $1.2 billion to the Tasmanian economy and supports thousands of jobs, many in regional areas
