Economy
Research, Reform, Revive
Our first female premier spoke of her vision today.
She is quoted on the front page of The Examiner.
The newspaper that has championed pulp prosperity for six years appears to get behind the Premier: ‘Tasmania should make quality a priority in developing new industries, Premier Lara Giddings said.
‘As part of her “back to basics” vision for the state, Ms Giddings said Tasmania could not compete on quantity.
“We’re never going to be able to compete on that front”, she said.
“We can compete on quality.”’
There is no mention in the article of the Tamar Valley Pulp Mill proposed by Gunns.
Surely it is high time therefore to embark on a complete fresh start for the Tasmanian timber industry.
A fresh course can only mean a greatly reduced role for woodchips and pulp. These low value products in no way fit the Premier’s vaunted move from quantity to quality. One is the antithesis of the other.
George Harris (‘Woodworker’) was quoted in another article in today’s Examiner* (HERE). He addressed a meeting in Campbell Town vowing to fight for the native timber industry. He said, ‘We seem to be the little players who have been forgotten in the greater scheme of things.’ The meeting voted for sustainability recognizing environmental values (HERE).
This would mean ‘getting back to basics’, to use the Premier’s words.
All but a small unthinking minority of conservationists would like to see an appropriate timber industry. To achieve one consistent with the Premier’s stated vision, complete upheaval is required. There is no place for a pulp mill of any significant scale. Plantations must eventually be harvested for short laminates and veneers or returned to diverse forests, pasture and agriculture. Wood-chipping of only genuine waste is consistent with reform. Once innovations are trialled, timber allocations must be re-directed. This way, financial prospects of existing contracts can be preserved and even enhanced.
Yes, it will all take clever leadership with some imported brain-power. Our business models have locked us in to tired thinking.
We can no longer support clearfelling in native forest as a standard practice. Widespread high intensity ‘regeneration’ burns cannot be sustained because they change the forest make-up. There is no economic nor environmental future in felling native forest for woodchip or pulp. New innovative approaches to selective logging and imaginative products with new markets are the fundamentals of reform for a revived native forest timber industry.
Surely, machinery and methods exist in the twenty-first century to extract valuable logs without trashing everything in their midst. If the means do not exist, we have a bountiful resource that assures returns from clever innovation.
Exhaustive auditing and market research must go hand in hand with innovation if the native sawlog industry is to be reformed for revival. The audit will lead to an inventory. It will identify high conservation values. The potential timber resource can then be researched. All known products and markets from all available species must be canvassed. The scale of this undertaking will exceed the development of the controversial pulp mill proposal. Auditing, inventory, product and market research and development will employ hundreds, and tertiary studies will be revamped. The economic rewards will be certain, risk-free, significant and ongoing.
Who knows, there might be a plethora of clever exportable products derived from lower grade regrowth. Take silver wattle for instance. It makes beautiful satiny interior lining boards with sheen, tone and pattern resembling sassafras! This, from a ubiquitous resource.
Frank Strie’s Pro-Silva approach would be a good starting point for rediscovering silviculture in Tasmania. Traditional methods worked before the greed creed made them uneconomic. Our grandfathers showed us the way. Just look at their clever, low impact, perfectly drained snig tracks. We must be able to apply some twenty-first century skills and technology to genuine silvicultural principles.
Imagine the fine products, the export revenue and sustainable jobs possible when we begin to match some serious thinking with our superb resource.
Think of youngsters learning genuine best practice.
Think of them starting careers.
Think of tourists coming to observe.
Who says you have to mow down a whole hillside, cart away most of it to be junked and send the rest up in smoke to get a few truckloads of valuable logs? Gunns said so for over forty years. APPM, North Forest Products and a host of other woodchip giants tried it. Gunns swallowed them whole. The markets finally hung Gunns out to dry. The Tasmanian experiment prospered for less than forty years.
Tertiary studies were designed around a high volume, low value industry. A purpose-designed Commission became a failed government business enterprise. Sections of the media threw their weight behind it for decades. Pollies invested their reputations. A succession of them fell by the wayside. Taxpayers were milked as it all began to falter. Out of this mess a corporate solution appeared to emerge. Pulp would be our saviour. However, plantations grew faster and more cheaply in third world countries. Pulp mill costs and risks blew out. Markets became more discriminate. Downsides could not be covered up. Large scale investment could not be found. The rest is history.
Now we must salvage what remains of our environment, our industry and workforce. The Premier’s stated aim of getting back to basics means nothing less than total reform.
Think of the golden opportunities that could be created from the ashes of obsolete Tasmanian forestry. Many jobs could be created before a giant pulp mill could possibly become operational.
I hope that readers will come forward with suggestions in a ‘round-table’ that we might have had if recent talks had been transparent and inclusive.
People will inevitably rubbish such a forum as they cling to influence and power and find it difficult to let go of a dream that has already been shattered. They will ridicule outsiders, but their old business model has already sunk to amateur status. If good ideas keep coming such a forum can be kept alive despite disruptions. We should be open to ideas from around the world.
Facing up to the present industry outlook players have little left to lose except false pride.
*Forestry workers vow to fight for industry
07 Feb, 2011 08:45 AM
A FORESTRY forum at Campbell Town heard that the future of native forests was being decided without proper community consultation.
The pilot Treeroots workshop was held on Friday and attended by 86 people.
The gathering included foresters, scientists, sawmillers, contractors, furniture makers and retailers, tourism operators and local government representatives.
All signed a communique stating that:
•The Tasmanian native forestry had long-term sustainability.
•It formed a substantial part of the state’s economy through employing thousands of people.
•They vowed to continue to promote the economic, social and environmental values of native forest management to the broader community.
Treeroots spokeswoman Amy Robertson said the mood at the workshop had moved from disappointment to determination.
“Participants have voiced their concerns and now seek active engagement with their governments, councils and communities,” she said.
Furniture maker George Harris said: “We seem to be the little players who have been forgotten in the greater scheme of things.”