Economy
Are the old warriors up to the challenge?
Loggers demand greens agree to forest peace terms
(The Australian, 15/3/2012)
It is always curious when people attempt to negotiate from an apparent position of power, when in reality they have very little power and certainly no other negotiating positions available (unless a lose/lose strategy is being considered). This appears to be the current situation with the forest industry in Tasmania if the above story in The Australian is to be believed.
Anyone who thinks that the IGA as it currently stands is going to resolve 30+ years of conflict in the forests overnight is either a pathological optimist, or extremely deluded. The forest industry has spent the past 16 years opening up numerous new campaigns in its battle against the Tasmanian community, greatly escalating the conflict. Many of these new issues are not addressed at all in the IGA. They require ongoing negotiation and dialogue.
And forcing the community to support the Tamar Valley pulpmill will never work, IGA or not. The pulpmill may once have been linked to the issue of native forest management but not anymore. These issues are now independent for most of the community. You can stop native forest logging entirely but this will not stop opposition to the pulpmill. Gunns have attempted to appease this opposition and have clearly failed. What hope then for the rest of the forest industry?
As a forester I have never seen the IGA as the panacea to the industry’s woes, only the first step on the long road to regaining commercial, social and political relevance. The forest industry, like all industries, will always have its critics. It is the ongoing systematic failure of the forest industry to deal effectively with its critics that has been its biggest problem. In fact many people say there is an industry culture that fosters conflict. Until this is addressed the industry has no chance of regaining community support.
Fundamental to re-establishing community support for the forest industry in Tasmania are the issues of communication, trust, accountability and transparency.
While the forest industry continues to play politics with the community, these issues will not be resolved. While Tasmanian politicians continue to play politics with the forest industry these issues cannot be resolved.
When the forest industry publicly demands an “arms-length” relationship with the parliament then people may start to believe there is genuine commitment to change.
When the forest industry publicly demands transparency and accountability from the Government and parliament then we will all sit up and take notice.
So far all we have seen is the same old posturing and rhetoric that has characterised previous failures.
It is well past time for some honest reflection and a fresh approach.
Are the old warriors up to the challenge?
I sincerely hope so!
• Read for yourself, Download Leaked Document: here
• Barnaby Drake: Regress report
A leaked report shows contractual wood supply demands can’t be met even if no new reserves are created.
The Liberal Party has distributed a section of the independent verification group’s report, despite Premier Lara Giddings’ claiming not to have even seen the document herself.
The section, titled `Review of Forest Estate Scenarios’, assesses wood supply estimates and concludes the minimum commitments for peeler billets and contracted supplies to sawmills made in the intergovernmental agreement can’t be met from native forests.
“In scenarios that include 572,000 hectares of new, high conservation value forest reserves, shortfalls in the production of sawlogs and peeler billets from public native forests over the next 20 years are more substantial,” the report states. ( My note. Not sustainable, only larger in volume.)
It is only one of five areas the group, led by Professor Jonathan West, has assessed. He handed the report to the state and federal governments at the end of February. -The Examiner.
So it would appear that we have been lied to, misled and misinformed for years.
There is no excuse, this has been a deliberate policy on the part of Forestry to build a private enterprise on deceit and to maximise their own advantage.
Suddenly it is found that even if no further reserves were to be created, Forestry could still not meet their contracts and commitments. They have over-cut in the past and over-contracted for thirty years into the future. Their policies are NOT sustainable and never have been.
Forestry loss has been proceding at a rate where it cannot possibly be replaced in any time frame mooted by them or the Government. Added to this, the destruction has been an added burden to the public as they have continually operated at a loss virtually since their inception. We are paying the assassins!
The future looks even bleaker.
Despite Gunns handing back their contracts, they are still harvesting at an unsustainable rate. If they continue in this vein, the ENTIRE forests will disappear within the next forty years, including all those areas designated for new reserves. We will be left with nothing except scorched earth and a massive bill. The benefits of our once world class forests will have been poured into the maws of foreign companies, who profit enormously from these assets without contributing anything back to the owners; the people of Tasmania.
Forestry’s answer to falling profits is to log more and lower the price further and hope that the added volume will compensate for this loss.
It is madness!
Yet the people in charge of this destruction bear a charmed life. They are promoted and given directorships of other companies or NGOs and sit on Government advisory boards. They are rewarded for their incompetence and failure to be held accountable for their responsibilities.
Currently every tree cut and every coupe harvested is done at a loss, and we the public, are paying for this with our taxes, our loss of essential services, our heritage and our living standards, and STILL both sides of government are pushing for this disastrous situation to continue unabated.
If Forestry were to cease right now, there would be an immediate improvement in the Treasury position. The current subsidies would cease and the IGA agreement could be augmented immediately, with a cash injection of $100 million used as compensation for the displaced workers.
And our putative leaders sit comfortably in their offices protected behind a wall of spinners and advisors, knowing full-well that none of this will get out into the national arena, as the press are subject to the whims of Forestry, and between them and the government, they have monopolised and control these outlets too!
As in previous situations, when Lara Giddings washed her hands of taking action against Gunns planning permits, saying that she did not understand the wording of their own legislation, she left it to the public to bring their own legal actions. This now seems to be the only channel left open to redress these glaring omissions of governance.
A Royal Commission is indicated, but as they themselves have to approve of it, that is not an option.
An election will not make the situation better and would probably worsen it if the Liberals gained control.
That leaves only one thing — a class action?
Anyone brave enough or possessing sufficient funds?
It will eventually be at our expense anyway, no matter which side wins.
• Barnaby Drake: Why don’t they?
This is an on-site charcoal burner which produces commercial bio-char and bar-b-que or heating fuel at a price of about $6.50 for a 5 kilo bag. Some wood waste is burnt in the outer shell to heat the inner pyrolysis container. The feed is directly into this by conveyor belt from the saw benches and it is emptied on a weekly basis by a sub-contractor, who buys and markets the result.
Almost all small sawmills in South Africa have similar set-ups.
Forestry Tasmania also produces 7.4 Million tonnes of waste every year from their operations, which they insist on burning and polluting the atmosphere with for a couple of months every Autumn. With a little foresight, this waste could also be turned into bio-char on site by an enterprising sub-contractor using easily erected mobile units. Jobs and money and a useful end product that could be used for fertiliser and agricultural enhancement as well, locking away the greater mass of the carbon for ever, rather than the wasteful addition to the atmosphere as of today’s practice; plus of course, all the health risks.
The only real question, is ‘why don’t they’?
• David Killick, Mercury: Forest deal ‘a dud’
A LEAKED report shows the forest industry will collapse if the forest peace deal proceeds, the Liberal Party claimed yesterday.
The confidential draft Review of Forest Estate Scenarios points out that even if no forests are reserved under the $276 million Intergovernmental Agreement on Forestry, wood volumes for sawmills and veneer processors cannot be met.
The 93-page document says that locking up more forests could pose grave difficulties for the timber industry.
“Broadly the analyses show that if no new reserves are established, minimum IGA commitments for high-quality sawlog supply can be met from native forests until 2030,” the report says.
“However, total demand, including contracted sawmills and regional sawmills, cannot be met.”
Opposition forestry spokesman Peter Gutwein said the report showed the IGA was a failed process.
• Matthew Denholm: The Australian: Forest peace deal ‘not possible’
• BY:MATTHEW DENHOLM, TASMANIA CORRESPONDENT
• From:The Australian
• March 17, 2012 12:00AM
A LEAKED expert report for the forest peace talks confirms it is impossible to protect the entire 572,000ha of forest sought by conservationists while honouring existing timber contracts.
The draft report by University of Melbourne experts, leaked to the state Liberal opposition, suggests a final forest peace deal will require significant taxpayer funds to invest in technology to make better use of plantations.
It also suggests that green groups will need to lower their expectations.
Industry estimates that up to 300,000ha of new reserves can be created while honouring existing contracts, while 428,000ha have been given interim protection pending a final peace deal.
The report’s findings are in line with stories in The Australian from October last year when this newspaper revealed a federal assessment that the 572,000ha could not be protected without hitting industry contracts.
The report leaked yesterday, by Mark Bergman and Andrew Robinson, paints a similar picture.
Meant for the independent verification team advising the peace talks, the report concludes that even if there are no new reserves, the current demand for sawlogs and veneer logs cannot be met by native forests alone.
If plantation forests can be used to top up the native timber, the report finds it would still not be possible to protect 572,000ha and meet the industry’s needs in the next 20 years.
Even after 2022, when a large plantation estate more suited to sawlogs becomes available, the report warns “significant investments” in technology would be needed to allow processing.
Full story in The Australian here
• Vica Bayley. Wilderness Society: FT can’t sacrifice unprotected HCV forests to prop up failed business model
• Forestry Tasmania has mismanaged forest and business
• FT would never have been able to fulfil Gunns contract
• Stakeholders need to commit to peace negotiations to secure industry
The Wilderness Society has called for cool heads and commitment to the forest peace negotiations in light of a leaked report into Tasmania’s timber supply.
“This report highlights long-term mismanagement of Tasmania’s public forests to the extent that existing contracts for industry supply cannot be met, no matter what, exposing Forestry Tasmania and the Tasmanian Government to potential liability for breach of contract,” said Wilderness Society Tasmanian Campaign Manager Vica Bayley.
“And the failed business that has already cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars can’t be allowed to sacrifice the state’s priceless forests.
“If Forestry Tasmania can’t meet contracts now and the industry crisis is bad, then it would have been diabolical had the Gunns’ contracts not been retired.
“Forestry Tasmania has committed the state to contracts that could never have been met, and potentially left the Tasmanian taxpayer exposed to huge compensation payments.
“This shows that Tasmania must now move forward to resolve the resource and community conflict in our forests.
“Wood supply is only a part of the picture in finding a solution. However, this draft report clearly shows that public native forests have been systematically overcut and overallocated in existing and new contracts.
“The only way forward is for urgent negotiations to conclude the Forest Agreement process and the Wilderness Society urges industry stakeholders to re-engage in those discussions.
“Cool heads must prevail and all stakeholders – the industry, unions and conservationists – must come together to negotiate an outcome for conservation of our forests and a restructured sustainable industry and secure Tasmania’s forests and economic future.”
• Examiner: Anger over leaked section of forestry report
17 Mar, 2012 04:00 AM
A LEAKED report has been described as a blatant attempt to derail the forest peace talks by the man who put it together.
Professor Jonathan West said it was disappointing that a small part of the lengthy and detailed verification report was released by the Liberal Party yesterday.
“This report has been selectively released leaving out other parts of the report, which itself is almost 2000 pages long,” he said.
“It’s a mischievous attempt to undermine the process of reaching an agreement.”
The section of the report released yesterday found the state’s native forests are insufficient to cover minimum wood supply guarantees made in the intergovernmental agreement even if no new reserves are created.
Professor West said he was still hopeful that the IGA process would deliver a long-term solution required by the state.
“I remain convinced and the signatories remain convinced that it is possible to reach an agreement with goodwill through these talks, including those signatories who are at present standing outside the process.”
Premier Lara Giddings said the Liberal Party was trying to distract from leader Will Hodgman’s “error of judgment” in not meeting a potential major investor in the Gunns pulp mill.
Ms Giddings said the public release of the full final report had been delayed by the cancellation of a briefing for stakeholders.
“The Tasmanian people will get the information when it’s appropriate for them to have that information,” Ms Giddings said.
“I’ve not seen it myself _ it has been with officials with Commonwealth and state government. It has not been lifted up to the political arena as yet.”
Resources Minister Bryan Green accused the Liberals of trying to pass off the leaked document as the full report.
“The Liberals have distributed the draft to media but won’t face up to questioning because they know it is not the final report,” he said.
http://www.examiner.com.au/news/local/news/general/anger-over-leaked-section-of-forestry-report/2491443.aspx