Member for Terrigal, Adam Crouch, has slammed the Australian Workers Union (AWU) for running a “baseless scare campaign” following allegations by the union that Strickland, Wyong and Ourimbah State Forests had been targeted for sale by the State Government.
The AWU said in a media release on October 21 that the forests were in the firing line under a State Government scoping exercise, but Crouch said the forests would definitely not be privatised. “A scoping study is underway for plantation estates, which are softwoods, ” he said. “This has no relation to our local State Forests, which are hardwoods.
“The claims being made by the AWU are completely false. “The AWU is deliberately trying to mislead our community with this baseless scare campaign on the future of forestry in NSW. ”
In an obvious swipe at Member for Gosford, Liesl Tesch, Crouch said “Labor MPs or anyone else who is making these claims should stop lying and correct the record”. “Public access and ownership of our local State Forests will absolutely not change. ” Tesch had come out earlier this week expressing her concerns over the announcement of a scoping study to investigate the sale of the NSW Forestry holdings.
“Until the safety of the Coast’s forests is confirmed in Parliament, I will not be convinced, ” she said.
Source: Media release, Oct 21 Australian Workers Union Media statement, Nov 12 Member for Terrigal, Adam Crouch Media statement, Nov 12 Member for Gosford, Liesl Tesch