The Forestry Minister Paul Harriss must stop playing games with his secretive review into Forestry Tasmania and commit to a clear timeframe by which the Review report is made publicly available, Greens Leader and Forestry spokesperson Kim Booth MP said today.
“There is no excuse for this ongoing secrecy now the government has been forced to admit they have the Forestry Tasmania Review, and have had it for some time now,” Mr Booth said.
“The Minister failed to even flag a timetable for the review outcomes to be made public when provided that opportunity in Parliament, and deliberately avoided committing that the Steering Committee’s report will be released publicly and in full.”
“This ongoing secrecy, where details are dragged out bit by bit, just confirm that the Liberals have no plan for the forestry industry, and are now desperately scrabbling to prop up the status quo.”
“Why should anyone believe further promises that this failed government business enterprise will not be further propped up in the state budget, which is just a repeat of the Liberal’s already broken promise to end forestry public subsidies?”
“The Minister must inform Tasmanians when this review will be made public, additional to whenever it is that the government honours us with their public announcement regarding what they intend to do about this failed GBE.”
“Tasmanians deserve to know whether real reform is on the agenda, or whether we will just see the GBE absorbed into a government department, or its assets hived off, in a flawed attempt to continue the industrial woodchipping as usual regime.”
“There are Forestry Tasmania staff wondering about their employment future, while this government shows more concern about massaging their spin than being transparent with the community,” Mr Booth said.