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NSW Nationals Leader and Member for Coffs Harbour Gurmesh Singh, Member for Clarence Richie Williamson and Member for Oxley Michael Kemp have slammed the Minns Labor Government’s decision to cut jobs at Forestry Corporation on the North Coast. Source: Timberbiz The MPs have said staff have been informed via email that dozens of jobs, estimated at around 50, including more than 30 in Coffs Harbour alone, are to be cut at a time when regional communities and local economies are already under enormous pressure. These jobs are to be a mix of management, office and field roles. According to an ABC report, a NSW government spokesperson said in a statement that it was working to move affected Forestry Corporation staff to suitable roles in the National Parks and Wildlife Service. It said the creation of the Great Koala National Park (GKNP) would add 100 new roles. “Before the election Chris Minns and Labor promised to help regional workers transition out of forestry. Today, they’re putting politics over people and science,” the MPs said. Critics of the GKNP have included the Timber, Furnishing and Textiles Union, which has publicly declared the carbon method funding the Great Koala National Park should be dumped because it rewards locking forests away instead of managing them. “There shouldn’t be an incentive for future governments to lock up land simply to fill government coffers without solid scientific rationale,” the MPs said in a statement. “With timber harvesting already halted under the moratorium, as well as this current round of job cuts, it’s unclear how the government will be able to claim any carbon credits for this project. “The NSW timber industry is among the most sustainable in the world, operating under some of the highest environmental standards while providing a resource that is desperately needed during a housing crisis. “Chris Minns said it himself – he does not understand regional communities. And he never will. “Today is yet another sad day for the hardworking men and women at Forestry Corporation who are paying the price for Labor’s budget mismanagement.”  

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