Forestry laws lead government agenda

BILLS to make forestry more legal and protesting against forestry less legal are top of the government’s agenda for the new session of parliament which began on Tuesday.

Parliament resumed for the 10th sitting day of the year after a lengthy pause caused by the resignation of former premier Peter Gutwein.

Top of the agenda was a government attempt to clean up somewhat mysterious “highly technical administrative matters” which some have suggested may have made all native forest logging illegal since 1985.

So too was a Bill increasing fines for protesting in Tasmania – the government’s third attempt to crack down on demonstrations.

The Forest Practices Amendment (Validation) Bill 2022 seeks to retrospectively validate delegations issued by the Forest Practices Authority.

Details of the Bill were made available to opposition members late on Monday, parliament heard.

In a letter to MPs, Resources Minister Guy Barnett said the Bill was intended to “remove doubts” which weren’t further explained.

“The government intends to introduce validating legislation with the intention of removing doubt and providing certainty to Tasmania’s sustainable forestry sector which supports thousands of direct and indirect jobs,” he said.

“The Bill seeks to resolve what can be described as a highly technical administrative matter.

“The issue at hand is related to the construction and form of instruments of delegation, not the safety or appropriateness of forestry operations undertaken onground.”

The Greens said it was telling that the matter ranked as a higher priority than action on the hospital crisis, the housing crisis and the climate crisis.

MP Rosalie Woodruff said she wasn’t convinced the Bill needed to be rushed through parliament.

“It is utterly opaque what is in this Bill. It makes no sense at all,” she said.

“We cannot look at a Bill in this place today, that the government won’t provide information about what it is seeking to change.

“It is abundantly clear that since 1985 this government and previous governments have been illegally logging forests in Tasmania. The government is refusing to provide us with the details of what it is seeking to change.”

Mr Barnett said the legislation would ensure forest practice officers who certified forest practice plans could be given advice – but not directions – on how to do their jobs by the chief forest practice officer.

The government and Labor voted in favour of holding immediate debate on the Bill.