Nick McKim MP | Greens Treasury spokesperson
Treasurer Peter Gutwein has today admitted that he has increased Forestry Tasmania’s debt capacity by $10 million to $41m, yet has repeatedly failed to explain how Forestry Tasmania can ever pay back the money it owes.
We know that Forestry Tasmania currently owes $27.8 million, yet the Treasurer has no idea whatsoever how and when FT can ever become financially viable.
The simple fact is that logging native forests is a loss making enterprise, and there is no realistic prospect of that changing in the future.
The Treasurer has today set himself the timeline that Forestry Tasmania will become financially viable within two years, but has repeatedly failed to explain how he thinks this can happen.
He cannot even tell the Tasmanian people what the future operating model of Forestry Tasmania will be.
It’s now clear that Mr Gutwein has no plan for Forestry Tasmania except continuing to throw public funds at it and allowing it to rack up debts and sell assets.