NATIVE FOREST — LOGGING — TRANSITION
PACKAGE
717. Hon Dr STEVE THOMAS to the minister representing the Minister
for Forestry:
I
ask this question on behalf of Hon Steve Martin, who is absent from the chamber on urgent
parliamentary business.
I refer to the minister's
media release from Tuesday, 16 August, which states that the newly announced
programs were ''developed in consultation'' with the Native
Forestry Transition Group and other stakeholders.
(1) Will the
minister confirm that an outline of the package was only presented to members
of the community and the industry development subgroup on the afternoon of
Monday, 15 August and is yet to be presented to the Native Forestry Transition
Group?
(2) Will the
minister also confirm that he agreed to give members of the group two weeks to
provide feedback to the packages in light of the serious concerns they raised?
(3) Why did the
minister publicly announce the packages without waiting for feedback from the
group as promised?
(4) Will the
minister commit to returning to negotiations with the group and engaging in
meaningful consultation, rather than simply dictating to the industry?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the
question. The following quite long answer has been provided to me by the
Minister for Forestry.
(1)–(4) Significant
consultation with key stakeholders, including members of the Native Forestry
Transition Group, has taken place during the development of the support
packages for the native forestry transition plan, including the recently
announced $30 million industry and community grants program. Subgroups
comprising members of the Native Forestry Transition Group were formed to
facilitate the consultation process and the development of the three transition
support packages—the business transition program, the native forest
workforce transition package and the industry and community development grants
program. Each of the subgroups met at least four times, with the industry and
community development subgroup also conducting an extensive workshop on 2 June
2022. The three funding streams that make up the government's $30 million
investment to strengthen south west communities was created following this
consultation.
The industry and community
development subgroup advised that the three areas of need were direct
investment to the communities most affected to stimulate regional economies;
support for secondary businesses affected by the decision to end native
forestry but not direct customers of the Forest Products Commission; and the
need to attract new and innovative industries that will bring jobs to the
communities most affected, in particular
Bridgetown–Greenbushes, Nannup and Manjimup. The $30 million government
investment into the south west will be delivered by three grant streams, with
$15 million towards the small business development and diversification program,
$10 million for a new industry and development attraction program and $5 million
for a community development small grants program.
A consultation draft has been
presented to the subgroup to provide feedback on the finer details of the
programs and to help inform guidelines and eligibility criteria. The government
has received positive feedback from the community in response to the industry
and community grants program and has already been
contacted by businesses that want to apply for a grant so that they can create
jobs locally in the south west.
The PRESIDENT: Thanks,
minister. You might like to remind your colleagues of standing order 106 in
relation to concise replies.