Welcome to our long overdue Branchline!
It has been awhile since we last communicated and I guess that’s a reflection on just how busy our organisation has been over the past few months. The upside is that this newsletter will be jam packed with information that we think you should know.
Tasmanian Budget
Usually, Forestry Tasmania barely rates a mention in the annual Tasmanian budget, but this year was different. The Premier/Treasurer Lara Giddings (media release) set aside $35m next financial year and a further $75m over the forward estimates to cover contingencies that might arise from the Intergovernmental Agreement and the Strategic Review of Forestry Tasmania. Unfortunately this prudent approach by State Treasury has been seized upon by the Tasmanian Greens to falsely claim that FT has been trading insolvent. Despite the tough times we and others are currently enduring, FT is solvent and continues to meet its obligations as they fall due. In fact cash flows for the next 12 months are fine and it is unlikely that FT in its current form will need to draw down any of the funds set aside by Treasury. The positive to come from this unfortunate debate is that both major political parties understand that if the forest industry is to rebuild, a strong robust FT is essential.
Triabunna
To be frank, the most pressing issue facing Forestry Tasmania is not its financial position but the lack of export facilities in the south and the north west. The Triabunna mill has been closed now for more than 12 months, and despite promises by the owners to find an operator, there is no likelihood of it re-opening. As everyone in the forest industry knows, it is important to sell every product harvested from a coupe – the high value sawlogs for sawmillers, the rotary peeled veneer grade logs, the export quality veneer logs and the pulpwood. And from a sawmiller’s perspective, they need to be able to sell not only the sawn timbers, but the residues that come from processing sawn timber. It’s the same as a butcher, who needs to be able to sell the various cuts of meat from a beast. If they can’t, then their viability is affected. The prime cuts are obviously worth more than the mince. In the forest industry, the high grade logs are the most valuable products, followed by peeler logs, even though most of the material harvested is pulpwood. That’s why export woodchip facilities are so important. Without them, the forest and timber industry choke. Without a woodchip export facility in the south, family owned sawmills and processors are at risk, and at stake are the jobs of 2000 workers in the processing, harvesting and transport sectors. The Tasmanian Government is aware the issue is now reaching a critical point.
Peace Talks
Forestry Tasmania has been a strong and consistent supporter of efforts to achieve a resolution to the forestry dispute, and for this reason we welcome the decision by the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania to re-join negotiations. FIAT did so after receiving commitments from environmental groups (read statement) to call a halt to market attacks and illegal protests. It’s impossible to predict whether the negotiations will be successful, but we can all be assured that everyone on the industry side is using their best endeavours to achieve a resolution.
Under-pinning the negotiations are the studies commissioned by Professor Jonathon West through the Australian and Tasmanian governments appointed Independent Verification Group. Forestry Tasmania was requested to review the scientific work undertaken by the IVG, and the results of that review by our scientists have now been forwarded to the two governments. This review is valuable because it provides an independent analysis of work that up until this point has not seriously been questioned. If you are interested in this area, we would encourage you to read the review.
PEFC certification issues
At the time these IVG reports were released, Professor West also made public a Chairman’s Report, in which he claimed that Forestry Tasmania had been harvesting at double the sustainable yield. This claim, which is hotly disputed by Forestry Tasmania, was used by anti forestry activists to challenge FT’s PEFC certification. Sustainability is a keystone of any legitimate certification scheme, so it was not a surprise to us when PEFC initiated an audit to test Professor West’s statements. While it may be some time before the audit is complete, we are encouraged by evidence provided by Professor West to a Legislative Council inquiry. In essence, Professor West made it clear he had no criticisms of Forestry Tasmania and said his comments had been taken out of context and misrepresented. Professor West told the committee that he had only considered native forests, and not the plantation component of the FT estate. The Australian Forest Products Association, in its submission to the Legislative Council, has put a very cogent rebuttal of claims of over cutting. We look forward to these issues being resolved soon.
A couple for the diary
On June 3, we are throwing open the doors to the Eagles Eyrie near Maydena. The Eagles Eyrie is the centrepiece of the Top of the World Tour offered by our Adventure Forests tourism portfolio. The tours are great value at around $100 per person, but for this one day, we will let locals take the bus to the top of Abbott’s Peak to the Eagles Eyrie for just $5. It’s intended to let the people of the Derwent Valley experience what is a truly remarkable building at a fraction of the cost of a full tour. We are not sure how popular it will be, so please, if you are intending to go, give us a hand by registering your interest.
The school holidays in Tasmania are fast approaching, and we will again be hosting an Open Day at FT headquarters in Hobart on June 14. We will be partnering with local radio station Heart 107.3 to promote the station’s “Give me five for kids” program to assist children requiring hospital care. It’s always a great day, so make sure you get along. It’s free, but if you can spare a gold coin for “Give me five for kids” that would be appreciated.
I apologise if you have found this Branchline a bit heavy going – there are a lot of big issues around, but I am sure we can navigate our way through this period of uncertainty.
Until next time,
Bob Gordon
Managing Director
Forestry Tasmania
Related…
Logging end spells trouble for Bruny roads
Bruny island residents are concerned some of the island’s roads are becoming unusable because Forestry Tasmania is no longer maintaining them.
FT has historically managed a third of the road network, including roads to popular tourist spots and bushwalks, because they lead to logging coupes.
But those coupes are earmarked for protection under the forest peace deal.
Forestry Tasmania’s Ken Jeffreys said the organisation could not justify spending money on roads when it was no longer making money from logging there.
“Bruny Island is a microcosm of the whole state,” Mr Jeffreys said.
“With the extensive road network we have and the extensive network of recreational facilities, there are big issues that the Tasmanian Government is going to have to address.”
Jenny Boyer from the Bruny Island Community Association said the risk of accidents would increase if the roads deteriorated further.
“If they’re not going to be able to productively harvest the forest then where is the money going to come from to maintain this infrastructure?” she said.
Kingborough Mayor Graham Bury said the council could not afford to take over the road infrastructure and would have to consider charging vistors a fee to cover costs.
“It seems to be a no brainer,” Alderman Bury said.
“There are so many islands around Australia where part of the fare is actually quarantined for infrastructure on the island you’re going to.”
• Keep up-to-date with the range of breaking stories and opinions on this story by using the Tasmanian Times’ NEWS Dropdown (top nav bar). NEWS gives you the Australian and World Google news-wrap. Breaking News in the Dropdown the latest in your area’s browser. And use the Dropdown to keep abreast of the daily breaking stories from around the world …
• SPECIALTY TIMBERS WASTED
Kim Booth MP
Greens Forestry Spokesperson
Thursday, 24 May 2012
The Tasmanian Greens today welcomed the Resources Minister Bryan Green’s undertaking to investigate the shocking waste of valuable minor species timbers, which are being stacked up on the Burnie wharf for export presumably at pulpwood prices.
Greens Forestry Spokesperson Kim Booth MP today asked Mr Green to allow him permission take a couple of log truck loads to a small country sawmill for a milling trial, to show how these high quality sawlogs can be converted into products with genuine value.
“I am calling on the Minister to allow access to just a few of these logs by an independent small country sawmill, to prove once and for all that Forestry Tasmania has been woodchipping high quality logs for years,” Mr Booth said.
“The Greens have obtained photographic evidence of a massive pile of logs stacked on the Burnie wharf for export clearly showing large eucalypts and blackwood, some up to a metre in diameter, that are more than suitable for sawmilling.”
“This wasteful, loss-making practice is destroying the future of sawmilling in this state.”
“Various people claiming to represent the forest industry have been claiming that a lack of logs is threatening their future, and that there will be nothing left for future production without more areas being opened up to logging.”
“If that was even remotely true, why on earth are Forestry Tasmania continuing to slaughter massive quantities of minor species timbers, including blackwood, and exporting them as pulp wood or low grade peeler?”
“Tasmania’s timber barons are being allowed to falsely claim that the only future is to publicly fund a woodchip mill and port to chip these logs for exports, rather than providing them to small country sawmills to provide craft, furniture and boat building timbers into the future,” Mr Booth said.
First published: 2012-05-24 05:46 AM
• Simon Johanson, The Age: Lend Lease going up in timber
May 26, 2012
PROPERTY company Lend Lease looks set to beat the Grollo family in a race to build Australia’s first high-rise timber apartment tower.
Work has started on the 10-storey wood structure in the Docklands that will rise 242 centimetres above the world’s tallest similar buildings, Bridport House and Stadthaus in London.
The Grollo family announced plans last year to build a timber high-rise at the old Carlton United Brewers site on Swanston Street.
That structure has been shelved until next year.
The innovative new Forte building, rising up at the west end of Bourke Street, will also be Australia’s most environmentally friendly multi-storey residence, with a 5-star green rating.
It will house 23 boutique apartments and four townhouses and be built entirely from cross-laminated timber (CLT) sheets glued and pressed into layers.
Lend Lease chief executive Mark Menhinnitt said the panels were light but had a structural strength akin to concrete and steel, they needed less foundations and cut building times by as much as a third.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/business/lend-lease-going-up-in-timber-20120525-1zab9.html#ixzz1vvIgR9Br
