The accelerated destruction of the native timber industry in my home state of Victoria is a disgrace. This industry has been a vital part of Victoria’s regional economy for more than 170 years. It is the lifeblood of many regional towns and provides employment for around 4,500 people and their families.

Yet instead of giving the workers in this vital industry until at least 2030 to transition to new jobs, Labor Premier Daniel Andrews has given the industry just six months until its closure on January 1, 2024.

Labor’s plan will destroy country towns by taking an axe to the jobs of regional communities. Some 560 workers will lose jobs in timber harvesting, haulage, and at mills. More than 150 jobs have already been lost at the Australian Paper mill in Maryville. The Corryong sawmill is closing after being in operation for 58 years. As the owner Graham Walker told the ABC this week, ‘Sadly, this situation should never have occurred. The forests are sustainable and there’s plenty of future there.’ Around 900 Victorians have lost or face losing jobs in the timber industry jobs by the end of the year.

All but 40 of state government-owned logging company VicForests’ 163 staff work in 14 regional offices from Hamilton to Orbost to Ovens and Bendoc on the border with New South Wales. These are skilled workers who have trained as foresters and ecologists and collectively have many decades of experience.

It’s hard to believe the Labor Party, which touts itself as the party of the workers, can be so heartless and indifferent to the hardship it is causing so many hardworking Victorians. Children are in tears because their parents are facing unemployment next year. Parents are stressed because they don’t know how they will put food on the table. Families are in crisis because they don’t know how they will pay their mortgages. In some small communities, even the schools and footy clubs will be forced to close.

Premier Daniel Andrews has said that he isn’t here to be popular and he certainly isn’t in regional Victoria, but he doesn’t care. All Labor cares about is chasing Green votes in inner-city electorates. The terrible irony of this vote-chasing exercise is that it will do terrible harm to the very environment that inner-city voters cherish.

What is deliberately ignored by Labor and the Greens is the incredible work that the industry and the regulator do to ensure the long-term health and productivity of our beautiful native forests. Labor, the Greens, and misguided eco-warriors champion wilderness. But ‘wilderness’ in forests is a recipe for disastrous bushfires. Far from damaging ecosystems, sustainable logging prevents devastating super fires. This is no accident. The industry has a vested interest in protecting the sustainability of native forests. That is why it logs selectively and regenerates native species, creating healthy, resilient forests which provide a unique home for flora and fauna.

Before the arrival of settlers, Indigenous Australians reduced the risk of intense fires by fire-stick farming. Traditional burning reduced fuel loads reduced the risk of intense fires and at the same time, it encouraged green shoots that lured animals the Aboriginal people hunted. When the first British settlers explored Australia, they described these practices.

The native timber industry achieves the same result by maintaining firebreaks and access roads, reducing fuel loads, and conducting prescribed burning.

Unfortunately, the Andrews government is not interested in these benefits or in the jobs of regional Victorians because there are not enough votes of interest to Labor. Until Labor learns to put the interests of regional workers and our beautiful forests ahead of its narrow partisan concerns, the great state of Victoria will suffer.