The Tasmanian Government will move to fix a “technical administrative matter” which has cast some doubt on the legality of the Forest Practices Act 1985. Resources Minister Guy Barnett said retrospective legislation would be drafted urgently to fix the problem when state parliament resumes. Source: Timberbiz
The deficiency in a delegation made under the Forest Practices Act came to light during court action against nine anti-forestry protesters over the past fortnight.
“A highly technical administrative matter relating to the issuing of a delegation made under the Forest Practices Act 1985 has recently been identified,” he said.
“I am advised that similar delegations have been issued since the commencement of the Act in the mid-1980s, including under both Labor and Labor-Green Governments.
“To be clear, this matter relates to the construction and form of the delegation instrument and does not go to the safety or appropriateness of forestry operations undertaken on-ground.
“However, to provide certainty for our industry and to remove doubt, the Government intends to introduce validating legislation when Parliament resumes to resolve this technical issue at law,” Mr Barnett said.
“This is not the first time that validating legislation has been brought to Parliament and I wish to stress again that this does not go to the safety or appropriateness of forestry operations undertaken on ground.
“Additionally, the independent Forest Practices Authority has undertaken measures to ensure that the system continues to remain robust.”
Sustainable Timber Tasmania General Manager Operations Greg Hickey told The Mercury in Hobart that other action had already been taken.
“Late last week, the Board of the Forest Practices Authority reissued delegations to all Sustainable Timber Tasmania Forest Practices Officers,” he said.
“Sustainable Timber Tasmania has proactively reviewed all active Forest Practices Plans, and where necessary, they have been reaffirmed.
“All current plantation and native forest harvesting activity is continuing.”
However, Shadow Resources Minister Shane Broad criticised the delay in introducing retrospective legislation.
“The chaos within this government has led to the cancellation of next week’s sitting of the House of Assembly, meaning Parliament won’t sit again until May 3,” he said.
“This is an urgent problem that needs to be fixed to give certainty to the industry and putting it off for almost another month is not dealing with it urgently.
“Instead, the Liberals have left the industry open to more uncertainty and a month’s worth of pot shots from the Greens and the Bob Brown Foundation,” he said.
Given that Parliament has only sat for nine days this year, the cancellation of next week’s sitting is completely unnecessary and has brought the working of government to a grinding halt.”
Mr Barnett said it was no secret that the Bob Brown Foundation and its Parliamentary allies in the Greens will take any opportunity in their ongoing attempts to shut down our sustainable native forestry sector.
“In stark contrast, we make no apology for standing up for the thousands of Tasmanians, many in regional areas, who work in our sustainable native forestry industry,” he said.
Bob Brown Foundation protesters reportedly prevented logging from occurring at three native forestry sites in Tasmania the day after the government announced it would bring in retrospective legislation to validate its laws.
