Greens Behind Beattie Botch-up
26th February 2000
City Country Alliance spokesman on Primary Industries and Natural Resources, Dr Peter Prenzler today slammed the State Government's handling of the RFA process and the Vegetation Management Act.
"Both these agendas were driven by the "Lock everything up and to hell with productivity" lunatic left in the environmental movement", said Dr Prenzler. "Both the RFA and the Vegetation Management Act disregarded the fact that jobs would be lost, communities would shrivel and die, and lives would be changed forever", he said.
"The environmentalists don't care if a timber worker's life's work is taken away, and his family is consigned to the welfare system. With the help of their Federation of Earth Minister, they have applied pressure to the Premier to bow to their selfish desires and he has caved in", said Dr Prenzler.
"With such ill conceived legislation, it was inevitable that Beattie's bleatings to the Federal Government for funding would fall on deaf ears. The failure to gain funding has caused a disaster of catastrophic proportions in rural and regional Queensland", said Dr Prenzler. Massive uncertainty and anguish, has sapped the confidence of these communities, has reduced property values, and has stalled productive decision - making processes".
"Genuine consultation with truly representative groups, and with a negotiating team containing a fairer balance between industry stakeholders and conservationists, would have resulted in
legislation which would have had some credibility, and outcomes which would be practical and capable of sensible implementation", said Dr Prenzler.
"This whole debacle with the accompanying waste of time and taxpayers money could have been avoided by sensible management by the Premier. He has failed miserably and has failed the people of Queensland", he said.