The Victorian Greens have welcomed news that the Victorian Auditor-General's Office (VAGO) will investigate the Labor Government's $875 million in native timber transition payouts, which the Greens say should have gone to support workers into sustainable jobs but are alleged to have been exploited to log Tasmanian native forests.
In their 2025-26 annual plan tabled yesterday, VAGO announced that an audit of Victoria's Forestry Transition Program will provide transparency on whether funds used to transition the timber industry from native timber logging have been used appropriately.
The news comes after Leader of the Victorian Greens, Ellen Sandell, referred allegations of misused funds to VAGO in March 2024.
Emphasising the importance of supporting former forestry workers into sustainable jobs - such as plantation timber, disaster prevention and reforestation - Ms Sandell raised allegations that funds from the program instead went to companies that moved to native forest logging in Tasmania, then shipped native timber back to Victorian mills for processing.
Since May 2023, there have been several reports of native timber being shipped to Victorian timber mills via the Spirit on Tasmania and Searoad Mersey.
Ms Sandell said the audit is important because Victorian taxpayer funds should not be used to destroy ancient native forests in Tasmania. Former Tasmanian state MP for Lyons John Tucker alleged in July 2023 that Victorian companies had begun undercutting Tasmanian contractors and forcing them out of business.
In May 2023 the Victorian Labor Government announced an additional $200 million to help transition timber workers out of native forest logging by the end of that year, bringing targeted support since a 2019, long-term package to more than $875 million (while additional programs put the final figure at $1.5 billion).
As stated by Leader of the Victorian Greens, Ellen Sandell MP:
"Make no mistake, the Greens agree with supporting forestry workers through this transition, but this Victorian taxpayer money was not supposed to be taken and used to continue to destroy native forests in another state.
"Victorian Labor gave $1 billion in taxpayer dollars to the logging industry to stop logging in Victoria - it is outrageous if that money has just been taken and used to destroy ancient forests in Tasmania and then ship the logs back to Victoria."
