Jason Lovell
Whatever happens with this third deal, the other two deals will probably involve the cutting and (fire)sale of hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Tasmania’s under-priced timber resource … probably costing the state upwards of $1 billion as our increasingly valuable forest assets are converted to woodchips, pulp and concrete veneer. This is the kind of money that builds and staffs new hospitals, constructs adequate public housing, takes care of special needs children and repairs ailing health budgets.
I thoroughly agree with most of the comments being made in relation to the Tasmanian Government’s wasted funds … and opportunities.
But I do think that the biggest wasters of all, the 20-year wood supply deals, haven’t received the attention they deserve, probably because it is difficult to concieve of the losses involved in deals that stretch out over 5 terms of Government. Deals in which we, the public, are not allowed to see the actual prices that our forests are being sold for.
While we can’t see the figures, it has been reported that the price of native timber in Australia is set far too low, resulting in major difficulties (especially forgone profits) for the more mature sections of the plantation sector. And this is the native timber price that has been locked in for the life of these deals.
And unfortunately, there isn’t just one 20-year wood supply deal in question here, there are two … or maybe even three.
First off the rank is the Gunns wood supply deal for the pulp mill, with all costs suppressed due to commercial-in-confidence.
Then there is the deal to supply the veneer peeler in the Huon Valley. Again, the figures are suppressed due to commercial-in-confidence.
And then there is the northern veneer peeling mill — announced as if it were going ahead last year, but still yet to get off the ground.
I strongly suspect that the northern peeler mill will either:
a) never get off the ground because there just isn’t enough timber remaining in northern Tasmania for the allocation that a 20-year deal requires, or
b) will begin construction just prior to the next state election … before running into problems due to the lack of enough allocatable timber in the region.
Whatever happens with this third deal, the other two deals will probably involve the cutting and (fire)sale of hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Tasmania’s under-priced timber resource … probably costing the state upwards of $1 billion as our increasingly valuable forest assets are converted to woodchips, pulp and concrete veneer.
This is the kind of money that builds and staffs new hospitals, constructs adequate public housing, takes care of special needs children and repairs ailing health budgets.
I’m sure its been said much more nicely elsewhere on this website, but for mine the theme of this Tasmanian Labor Government will always be:
Pissing Away The Good Times.
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