According to Rene Hidding, Tasmania’s Liberal spokesman for forestry, it is “insulting” to Tasmanians to inform them about the tiny contribution the forestry and logging industries make to that state’s employment. Presumably he thinks it would be better to deceive the people? For all of the analysis about what the collapse of the state’s forest talks means politically, there has been very little discussion about what its demise means for the Tasmanian economy. Maybe it’s because the answer is so simple; the logging industry is virtually irrelevant to the state’s economy.
Related documents
Between the Lines Newsletter
The biggest stories and the best analysis from the team at the Australia Institute, delivered to your inbox every fortnight.
You might also like
Why a fossil fuel-free COP could put Australia’s bid over the edge
When the medical world hosts a conference on quitting smoking, they don’t invite Phillip Morris, or British American Tobacco along to help “be part of the solution”.
Burning homes and rising premiums: why fossil fuel companies must pay the bill
Another summer, another round of devastation: homes lost, communities evacuated, lives upended.
Australian fossil fuel subsidies growing faster than NDIS, hitting $16.3 billion in 2025-26
Australian state and federal governments provided $16.3 billion in subsidies to fossil fuel producers and major users in 2025-26, according to new research from The Australia Institute.


