In an act of economic vandalism, the Federal Greens have today indicated that in the event of a minority parliament, they will hold to ransom Australia by locking up our native forests.
Minister for Business, Industry and Resources, Eric Abetz, said that a ban would lead to job losses in Australia, with timber being imported from developing countries.
"Fellers of timber in South America and South-East Asia are today joyfully relishing the prospect of a Labor-Greens Government in Canberra," Minister Abetz said.
"None of the countries in those regions stack up against Tasmania's legal, world-class, and sustainable forestry industry from which we source appearance-grade timbers and high-value species.
"We've seen the damaging effects of native forestry bans in Victoria and Western Australia, where thousands of jobs were lost, and regional communities were turned upside-down.
"Tasmanians are still feeling the impact of Labor-Green, job-destroying decisions in 2010-2014 when Tasmania went into recession, and 10,000 Tasmanians were sent to the dole queue.
"Anthony Albanese must stand up to his inner-city mainland Ministers and rule out any deal with the Greens that would result in the shutdown of Tasmania's native forestry."
The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that approximately 15,500 Tasmanians are employed across the State's forestry, aquaculture and mining industries, collectively contributing $4 billion to our economy each year.
That's a whopping 10.5 per cent of Tasmania's GDP that is at risk if the Greens get their way.
