NEW State Opposition leader Peter Malinauskas has branded part of the former Labor Government’s controversial sale of forward timber rotations as “regrettable”, conceding it was done against the wishes of the South East community.
However, he stopped short of apologising for the decision.
In an interview with The Border Watch, Mr Malinauskas said his recent tour across the Mount Gambier and MacKillop electorates revealed “overwhelming” feedback on the issue of forests seven years after harvesting rights were sold.
The forward sale of government-owned regional plantations prompted widespread protests across the Green Triangle, including a 2011 rally where former Premier Jay Weatherill faced a crowd of 3000 people.
Mr Malinauskas said it was an “undeniable truth” the decision to sell future timber plantations did not have the backing of the community.
“The decision to sell the forward rotation of the forest was done without the community support in the South East and that is regrettable,” he said.
“The feedback has been so overwhelming it would be irresponsible of me as a new leader not to acknowledge it.
“Although these are decisions that were made well before Clare or I were even in the Parliament, the feedback that I got was genuine, strong and important to me as a new leader.
“What matters to people in the community is for me to make an acknowledgement of the truth and use it to guide our policies into the future.”
Mr Malinauskas’ comments follow Labor foreshadowing a motion, scheduled to be discussed in the state’s upper house, which if successful will examine log export volumes.
The party leader said the motion, which also questions whether the exporting of wood fibre is in compliance with the conditions of sale of the radiata pine forests, “sold by the previous State Labor Government”, further demonstrated the party’s genuine commitment towards the industry.
“We see (Member for Mount Gambier) Troy Bell’s motion as an important one,” Mr Malinauskas said.
“We have not sought to amend the motion, including the reference to the sale of the forward harvest rotations because we are not shirking it.
“The industry is performing well in some areas of the South East, but that does not mean there are not areas of concern worthy of being addressed.
“If we are serious about going to work on regaining the confidence of the community, this area is one we need to focus on.”
While he would not be drawn to comment on Labor’s response in the event of the inquiry finding, Mr Malinauskas said any recommendations would form part of a policy rethink on the issue.
Shadow forestry minister Clare Scriven said Labor needed to carefully examine how the decision to sell the harvesting rights was developed, as well as the widespread community opposition to the sale.
“We were not talking about dozens of people opposed to this, we were not talking about hundreds of people, we were talking about thousands of people,” she said.
“It is an important part in terms of what we are trying to do with policy around forestry and acknowledging the really, deeply held feelings people have had about it.
“If a decision was made that did not respect that level of concern in the community, then that’s what we need to look at.”
