Eastern Victoria Region
Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (13:11): (852) My constituency question is to the Minister for Agriculture. I ask the minister: will she provide fair compensation to my constituents Jeff and Kristy Coster? Jeff and Kristy have worked in the native timber industry for 30 years. They do not hold a VicForest contract licence. They work for a VicForest contractor. In the negotiations with the Allan government they accepted a payout and had put into their bank account 20 cents as a pathway for the remaining $197,000. That was in February. That payment has not gone through, and the government is saying that there is an argy-bargy with the Australian Taxation Office. My constituents – and they are not alone in this plight – are bereft and beside themselves. I call on the minister to find a pathway so that these people, who have been displaced by the government, actually get fair compensation.