McCall: Set aside the IGA and the Roundtable. Green puts his foot down

Leon Compton: You’ve got a situation at the moment where you’re trying to make promises of ‘durability’ and ‘sustainability” through the IGA – certainty for the future and on the other hand you’re choosing the same point in history to conduct a restructure of Forestry Tasmania. It seems like the Government has two things working as counter-points or counter-forces happening at the same time.

Tony McCall: I thinks that’s perfectly correct, Leon. This has been my particular criticism of this whole process in the first instance. The objectives and the goals are counter-intuitive.

Governments can’t leave the room to allow self-interested – regardless of how well intentioned they are – self-interested groups to carve up the public forest estate in Tasmania as if they own it.

What Governments need to do is to come to the table and say: ‘Look, we want to have a conversation with you as self-interested groups [forestry industry and environmentalists] around how we can secure the long-term sustainability of forestry in Tasmania and together add to the high conservation value forests and put them in reserves. We need to have another look at it.’

But the objectives and goals are clear here; how can we secure the future sustainability of forestry in Tasmania, given all the challenges that we face?

And all this started of course when Gunns Ltd decided to exit the forests – exit the public forest estate. And that was a big opportunity for a re-alignment around the changing market directions and consumer needs … and consumer demands in this global wood and paper product area.

Government left the room and the moment they left the room, it became unclear, uncertain and completely ambiguous as to what the objective and goals were.

Leon Compton: Do you think the IGA or the signatory process is dead?

Tony McCall: (pause)… I think its, ahh… on its last legs. I, I… again, ahhm… (pause)… again, the only hope here for a sustainable forestry sector in Tasmania is for the Parliament itself to take control over the deliberation.

We have a minority Government that’s true, but the Parliament can still negotiate if there’s some goodwill, by say, for example the Liberals and the Labor Party to try and pursue, not what the IGA set out to achieve; not what the roundtable achieved but the single proposition around the objectives and goals of a sustainable forestry sector in Tasmania. It might be possible that that conversation can still take place. [b]But essentially that means that the IGA has to be set aside and the roundtable process can be set aside.[/b] But some of the information that has come out of those processes can be used to perhaps arrive at some sort of agreement… because if we don’t have it, ahhm… I think most Tasmanians would be concerned about where the future investment in the forestry sector is going to come from.

A whole range of circumstances, right now, make it almost impossible to believe that any investment money is going to be lobbed into Tasmania and into the forestry sector. That has to change, because otherwise we’ll make the really fundamental regional development policy mistake – we’ll actually completely destroy a significant resource asset here in Tasmania.

Dr Tony McCall, above, is Senior Research Fellow for the Institute for Regional Development as well as a lecturer in the School of Government at the University of Tasmania. Interviewed by Leon Compton ABC radio – Mornings 18 September 2012

From here

Yesterday on Tasmanian Times:
• Fight to the Death. Chairman Miles jumps ship. What Miles said. Nick McKim
• All about Miles

• Hakan Ekstrom, Wood Resource Quarterly: Chile and Brazil have began to supply Eucalyptus chips to Chinese pulp mills; however Japan continues to be the major destination for Latin American wood chips, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly

In late 2011, Brazil and Chile sent the first chip vessels to pulp mills in China in over five years. In the past, Japan had been the major destination for Latin American Eucalyptus chips.

With Japanese pulp mills paying considerably more than Chinese pulp mills for chips, it is likely that a majority of Eucalyptus chips from Latin America will continue to be shipped to Japan.

• Download: the full article:
GTWMU_Chile_Brazil_Eucalyptus_chip_exports_to_China.pdf

• Bryan Green
Acting Premier
Wednesday 19th Sep 2012

Government committed to restructure of Forestry Tasmania

Acting Premier Bryan Green said today the decision to restructure Forestry Tasmania was in the best interests of Tasmanian taxpayers and aimed at providing greater certainty for its workforce.

Mr Green reiterated that Forestry Tasmania would remain a standalone corporate entity responsible for commercial wood production as part of reforms that have been announced.

“The Government’s decision to change the operating structure of Forestry Tasmania was based on independent advice and we are committed to implementing the reform,” Mr Green said.

“Forestry Tasmania faces significant financial losses and the Government has no option but the act.

“It would be totally irresponsible of the Government to ignore the facts as they stand and in that respect Forestry Tasmania is no different to any other Government Business Enterprise,” Mr Green said.

“The Government must ensure Forestry Tasmania is on a viable financial footing as the industry confronts unprecedented challenges,” Mr Green said.