The latest appalling developments in forestry interstate simply prove the point that Labor will stop at nothing in its craven grab for inner-city votes.
Minister for Business, Industry and Resources, Eric Abetz, said reports that the so-called "party of workers" is now considering an outright ban on forestry in NSW is a tragic sellout of regional communities.
"Labor governments in both Victoria and Western Australia have banned native forestry logging in those states, and now we hear concerning reports that NSW Labor is also considering an outright ban – a ban that would result in thousands of job losses and cause hundreds of millions of dollars in economic damage to their economy," said Minister Abetz.
"This continues a concerning trend of state Labor governments failing to support the native forestry sector, leading to a crisis where as a nation we are importing more timber than ever despite our sustainable forestry practices.
"Despite Tasmanian Labor's words to the contrary, it is anybody's guess as to how long it can hold out against its own activist base and follow the lead of their mainland colleagues, particularly given the paltry increase in its primary vote at the poll earlier this year.
"Tasmanians will never forget that the last Labor-Green Government gutted the forestry industry and destroyed two out of every three local jobs.
"I call on Tasmanian Labor to rule out using forestry as a bargaining chip to do deals with the Greens. It's time they stood up for the jobs and livelihoods of the thousands of Tasmanians that work in our forestry sector.
"The Tasmanian Government supports our native forestry sector and our 2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania's Future will protect forestry jobs."
