Labor veteran and forestry advocate Adele Farina slams former colleague Dave Kelly over native logging claims

The head of the State’s peak forestry group has slammed her former Labor colleague for claiming support packages for the shunned industry could not be finalised as it was not yet known how many workers were affected. Forestry Minister Dave Kelly made the comments after the final Native Forestry Transition Group meeting of the year earlier this month, where the taskforce continued to discuss how the sector could adapt when the McGowan Government’s native logging ban came into affect at the end of 2023. Mr Kelly said on the day the packages were not finalised yet, as the government did not know how many businesses and workers would need assistance. Forest Industries Federation WA chief executive and Labor veteran Adele Farina — who has represented the South West for 20 years since 2001 — said Mr Kelly’s claims were incorrect and the information had been provided to the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation in mid-November. “The Minister’s attack on industry is disgraceful and refuted,” she said. “Throughout this process, industry requests for information and assistance have fallen on deaf ears. “The Minister’s swipe at industry not only lacks foundation but does nothing to assist in providing impacted businesses and workers with the clarity and assistance they have been waiting on for three long months.” Ms Farina said the comments made by Mr Kelly showed there had been no social or economic impact assessment done by the State Government prior to its announcement in August over the closing of the industry. “I believe most in the community would be shocked to learn that the government made this announcement, impacting timber workers, businesses and communities, without any knowledge of the economic and social impact on those impacted, regional economies or the State economy,” she said. “Despite all the resources in the public service at the government’s disposal it failed to undertake this critical assessment.” Ms Farina said she was sceptical the support packages would be announced on schedule in early January given how slow the transition process had been thus far. She said with no transition group meeting planned for the rest of the year it would be tricky to hit the January window. “If the government expected support packages to be finalised by early January, perhaps Minister Kelly could explain why the government took so long to establish the Business Transition Subgroup and why a subgroup meeting expected to have been held last Friday or Monday was cancelled,” she said. “It is impossible to progress work on the support packages with the government dragging its feet in scheduling subgroup meetings.”