The Victorian government’s logging agency will close on June 30 after years of financial losses and claims of mismanagement.
Victoria’s troubled state-owned forestry operation will close on June 30 after years of financial losses and allegations of mismanagement and spying on environmentalists.
It was the latest salvo in a long-running series of disputes between the forestry agency and community groups, which have in recent years increasingly taken to the courts to try to block logging. VicForests employs 140 staff. Of these, 60 will be made redundant while the remaining 80 will get new roles in the state Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action.
“To truly protect Victoria’s iconic native forests for the benefit of the community, the government needs to restore public trust through extensive restoration and land management, led by First Peoples, which stands to generate thousands of sustainable new jobs across regional Victoria,” he said. The Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner found last year that VicForests had engaged in covert surveillance of two environmental activists, and Professor Lindenmayer, in 2010 and 2011. The spying, Victoria’s privacy watchdog found, was unlawful and a flagrant breach of privacy.