Forestry jobs - response to Ross Hampton, AFPA

Ross Hampton (Tumut Adelong Times 18/6/20) says: “50 per cent of people in the [Eden-Monaro] electorate have an involvement in forest industries in some way" and: “in terms of concentrated employment pockets, outside Queanbeyan it’s forest industries.”

As the chief lobbyist for the logging industry, we expect him to overstate his case, but not by a factor of over 100.

Exactly what Mr Hampton means by “an involvement in forest industries” is far from clear, but if it’s employment, here are some facts:

-          for example, direct employment in logging in the Bega Valley and Eurobodalla Shires combined is less than 1% of the total workforce.

-          in other shires it is similar or even less.

He also fails to distinguish between sustainable, plantation based forestry, as in the Tumut region and destructive, out dated native forest woodchipping, which has been so damaging to coastal forests.

Yours, etc

 

21June 2020