VICFORESTS IS BANKRUPT
VicForests has broken a new record – in multi-million-dollar losses. A $54 million loss was declared in its annual report tabled on 20th December 2022.
Victoria has an insolvent state owned business losing $54 million of tax-payer dollars in 2021-22 – on top of almost 2 decades of annual losses, proven cases of illegal logging and an unwillingness by government to do anything but pay VicForests debts and give it even greater handouts. It is nothing more than government-sanctioned vandalism of publicly owned forests, laced with excuses and union kow-towing.
EEG has been one of the litigants that VicForests accused of costing it over $10 million in legal costs trying to defend its illegal logging. That’s just up to June 2022.
But the main reason VicForests finds itself in the Supreme Court year after year, is because it refuses to log within the laws to protect rare wildlife and our forests’ values. The government seems happy to look the other way. It even weakens the laws that VicForests breaks to allow it to continue its unpopular, unprofitable and out-of-date logging regime.
Just as whaling has become part of history, so too should the destruction of native forests and our wildlife. It is now beyond doubt that our forests are also one of the most important natural solutions to climate mitigation.
It would be cheaper to send the declining number of loggers to Bali to retire, close down VicForests and use the wages given to the CEO, Board and staff, to instead train and employ more health workers and teachers.
And that $54 million of our tax dollars could have paid for:
- 900 teachers
- 620 midwives
- 900 new emergency accommodation beds
rather than destroying our native forests.
Daniel Andrews must stop propping up this massive and destructive welfare scheme. Native forest logging must end now, not in another 8 years.