Timber punishment

It is very concerning what the Andrews government has done to the native timber industry. Pre 2019, the area of public native forest available for harvesting in Victoria was five per cent and each year only around .03 per cent of that area harvested, the remaining 95 per cent was protected, never to be harvested.

Do I need to write that again? 95 per cent never to be harvested. Only .03 per cent is harvested and yet this .03 per cent brings in an excess of half a billion dollars annually.

The activists don’t want the public to know that it is only 0.03 per cent of the native forest harvested. We are led to believe that the native bush is being massacred and a multitude of animals are almost extinct. It is just not the case.

The other concern is the upkeep of tracks and the loss of forestry rated machinery and experienced operators.

Who do you think will be defending remote towns in times of bushfires? Who is going to protect Melbourne’s two largest water catchments, Upper Yarra and Thomson? Who is going to construct the firebreaks?

City machinery won’t do it and city drivers won’t have the knowledge or skills. Only forestry rated machinery and forestry dozer operators can be used.

These are the people in the thick of the bushfires with their dozers. If there is no industry (remembering only .03 per cent is harvested) there will be no forestry machinery in use and no one to protect these communities, our water catchments and power lines.

Daniel Andrews is just punishing regional Victorian communities.

Julie Gillam, Drouin