Update from Environment Tasmania on Forest Talks
From the Environment Tasmania eBulletin – September 2012
While we continue towards a final forests agreement, a critical step forward was achieved between environmentalists and the timber industry this past month.
Using best available data, negotiators prepared a new scenario for forest protection and wood supply they believed could underpin a final agreement.
This scenario would have protected a large area of unique and important native forests and provided an ongoing and secure wood supply for the Tasmanian timber industry and its three main sectors – the large saw millers [e.g. Britton Timbers], the smaller country saw millers and the veneer sector [e.g. Ta Ann Tasmania].
To check the projections for wood volumes, this scenario was then tested using computer modelling and updated forest data sets [by Forestry Tasmania]. Unfortunately, [b]this showed significantly less wood volumes were available than had been previously estimated[/b].
With signatories not being in a position to reduce the size of proposed reserves or, significantly reduce wood supply, senior ministers from both the Commonwealth and Tasmanian Governments [Tony Burke and Bryan Green] joined in the negotiations.
This involvement helped the signatories reach a milestone decision, which given the circumstances, was a major breakthrough.
On the 15th of August all signatories signed an [i]Interim Agreement on Conservation and Wood Supply[/i] [see pdf] and agreed to support the immediate launch of a voluntary industry re-structure program offering to buy back wood supply contracts on a voluntary basis [$15 million]. This program is under development and could be announced any day.
The Interim Agreement is an important document and milestone for the forest process. It outlines this shared vision and objectives for a lasting agreement:
The Signatories agree to a genuine, lasting end to conflict over Tasmania’s native forests through commitment to a long-term durable agreement that delivers:
A. an ongoing, vibrant forestry industry in Tasmania based on native and, increasingly in the future, plantation forests
B. protection of significant additional areas of native forest with important conservation values
C. strong, resilient communities and decent and secure jobs for workers and contractors
D. a strong focus on research and development to assist in driving these objectives.
Of course, the next major milestone is in trying to finally reach a concluded agreement and we believe this is possible though tough.
In a few weeks, following the conclusion of the buy-back program and a range of other measures, the negotiations will re-convene for a final time to establish if a final lasting agreement can be reached, the final size of the new forest reserve areas and the size and specifics of the ongoing forest industry.
Signatory_Interim_Agreement_15_August_2012.pdf
• Jane Calvert: Timber workers unanimously reconfirming support for forestry agreement
Timber workers across Tasmania are overwhelming reconfirming
their support for a Tasmanian Forest Agreement at mass meetings
being held across the State this week.
During three days of meetings across the State, union members
have unanimously endorsed the Union position to stay the course.
CFMEU Forestry Division National President, Jane Calvert, said
further meetings would be held next week.
“This process is about far more than restructuring Forestry
Tasmania or creating peace with environmentalists. It’s about
stabilising the timber industry through lasting access to native forest
resource, secure markets and an economically viable supply chain,”
Ms Calvert said.
“Unless we do that, workers and industry will face open-ended
uncertainty.
“What we’re going through is difficult and complex and it’s easy for
some to engage in political point scoring. But for our members, jobs
and livelihoods are at stake. It’s crucial we get this right.”
Ms Calvert called on those who are trying to compromise the
agreement process to choose a more constructive path.
“We are frustrated at the attempt by some people to play this out
through the media – that will not deliver a sensible solution for
Forestry Tasmania or the industry.
“Those who claim to be interested in keeping Forestry Tasmania
immune from the push and pull of politics, are themselves guilty of
pushing the organisation right into the centre of the fray. Their
actions are nonsensical and their motives are questionable.”
