Media Release from Tasmanian Special Timbers
Alliance
1st February 2013
Tony Burke’s WHA nomination hurts the Special
Timbers Sector
The announcement yesterday by the Federal Environment minister Tony
Burke that he would be pushing ahead with submitting a proposal for an
extension to the WHA boundary in Tasmania will have a dramatic impact
on the availability of Special Timbers in Tasmania.
TSTA spokesman Andrew Denman advises;
“This proposal is completely at odds with the Prime Minister and Premier’s
commitment under the IGA to provide resource security to industry.
Under Clause 17 of the IGA, the State and Federal government committed
to a guaranteed wood supply which included at least 12,500 cubic metres
of specialty timbers (subject to verification). The verification process for
special timbers has still not been carried out yet reserve boundaries are
being rushed into effect with no evidence based rationale.
Although maps and data for special timbers (ST) availability are not in the
public arena for comment, evidence provided at the current Legislative
Council hearings by FT show a dramatic reduction in ST availability post
agreement. Annual yields of non-blackwood species such as celery top
pine and black heart sassafras are being reduced by over 50% of the
12,500 cubic metre figure mentioned under the IGA and well below
annual harvest average of 16,748 cubic metres advised to the IVG.
Further evidence at the current hearings from FT advised that non
blackwood special timbers will suffer at least a 60% reduction under
current reserve proposals and that supply commitments (of 12,500 cubic
metres) cannot be met due to not enough remaining special timber
production areas.
One senior FT manager in his recent submission to the Legislative Council
stated;
“A significant proportion of the area that the Tasmanian Forests
Agreement proposes for the Specialty and Craft Zone (Clause 8) is
unlikely to contain any appreciable quantity of special timbers. It concerns
me greatly that such an obvious sleight of hand could find its way into the
agreement, and could then influence the framing of the TFA Bill”
This revelation adds credence to evidence provided to the Legco last year
by a former FT expert on ST who stated;
“The proposed new Specialty Craft & Timber Zone (SCTZ) areas on the
IGA map do not contain significant volumes of SSTs”
Accordingly, TSTA strongly opposes any inclusion of current Special
Timbers production areas in the WHA extension proposal and call on the
Federal Government to delay any nomination until the required
yield/demand studies for ST have been carried out and reserve
boundaries adjusted accordingly.
Andrew Denman, Tasmanian Special Timbers Alliance
