This petition demands the Parliament of Victoria urgently recognises and supports Victoria’s sustainable and internationally accredited native timber industry.
We ask Members of Parliament to recognise:
· This sustainable industry provides direct and indirect employment for some 21,000 Victorians;
· Forestry takes place in less than 0.04 per cent of Victoria’s forest estate each year, with areas carefully managed and replanted for long term rotations;
· More than 94 per cent of Victoria’s forests are protected, not available or unsuitable for forestry activity;
· Sustainable forest harvest and regeneration can play positive roles in carbon mitigation as well as also bush fire load management;
· Research that confirms Victoria’s plantation industry is not an economically viable or environmentally sustainable alternative to the native forestry industry;
· That Daniel Andrews and the Victorian Labor Government’s plan to shut down our native forest industry will cost jobs, close businesses, and destroy Victorian communities.
We, the undersigned, demand all Members of the Parliament of Victoria stand up for Victorian workers and industry and rescind the Victorian Labor Government’s reckless and destructive plan.