One of the nominated Special Timbers Contingency Coupes in the Bass District – Where’s the trees?
Alarming new evidence shows that the Special Timbers sector would be gutted by the Tasmanian Forest Agreement Bill currently before the Legislative Council.
Industry participants have consistently stated that the areas set aside under the proposed agreement for special timber harvesting do not contain sufficient special timbers of appropriate quality, species mix and age profile to support a viable industry.
The State Government recently introduced an amendment into the Upper House listing 24 contingency coupe areas to be accessed if supply from the original Specialty Timber and Craft Zone proved insufficient.
The Tasmanian Special Timbers Alliance has begun an investigation into these coupes and has found many of these contingency coupes do not contain special timbers in any appreciable quantity or of a quality that could be used by industry.
On-ground proofing of five contingency areas has shown that although all contained some small amounts of specialty timbers, it was mostly of poor quality, not suitable for saw log or not economically viable to extract.
Other areas were sufficiently steep that harvesting would be precluded under current forest practices.
TSTA has been informed that the forest manager, Forestry Tasmania, is aware that not only do the contingency coupes contain little specialty timber, but that other areas set aside under this agreement are also not as special timbers-rich as some of the existing reserves or the parts of the Special Timbers Strategy Zone that is proposed to convert to reserves
under the TFA.
Andrew Denman, President of the Tasmanian Special Timbers Alliance stated; ” This is truly alarming. To hear that areas set aside for the future of the special timbers sector have been chosen without any regard to the timber contained in them is appalling. This calls into question all special timber reserves proposed under the TFA 2012 and an immediate
investigation should be carried out to determine the process by which these areas have been selected. TSTA again calls for public tabling of the modelling used by the TFA signatories to select these areas as they obviously do not have the required expertise to make such a determination.”
FSC Certification for Specialty Timbers
TSTA also met with senior government officials last Thursday to discuss the important question of support for FSC certification of Special Timbers by the signatories and Government as well as specialty timber supply issues under the agreement.
President of TSTA Andrew Denman advised: “The Tasmanian Forests Agreement, as written, does not contain support for FSC certification of Specialty Timbers and strong concerns have been raised with the Premier, Tony Burke, The Tasmanian Greens and the TFA signatories but to date we have not received an answer to the question on whether FSC
certification for Special Timbers will be supported. It would be completely unacceptable to have certification for the sawlog/peeler side of the industry but not for special timbers.”
“TSTA had requested a response to the question of FSC certification for our sector from Government by close of business Monday but nothing has been received which indicates to us that the sector does not have government support despite claims to the contrary.”
“This is yet another example of how badly the Special Timbers sector has been dealt with throughout this process. The signatories have either not understood the needs of the specialty timber sector or they have chosen to ignore them in pursuit of their own agenda.”
• Peg Putt: New report scuttles environmental claims for native forest-based bioenergy
• David Obendorf:
The Tasmanian Government has indicated it will support a significant change to the Tasmania Forest Agreement bill, a change it once branded a deal-breaker. Rumney MLC Tony Mulder wants to postpone the creation of 270,000 hectares of forest reserves until late 2014.
ENGOs have vowed to walk away from the peace deal if the change is made and the Premier Lara Giddings had said she will not support amendments that Signatories do not agree with.
But the Leader of Government in the Upper House, Craig Farrell, has indicated the State Government will support Mr Mulder’s proposal.
“The Government believes this amendment is materially consistent with the intent of the TFA,” he told Parliament.
Mr Mulder has urged Upper House MPs to support his change. “This is a genuine attempt to get this deal up and running and in accordance with the wishes of the signatories. This is not an unacceptable amendment. How anyone can say my amendments contravene wishes of the signatories, I do not know”, Mr Mulder said.
It is understood the three Signatory ENGO groups are ready to walk away.
Huon MLC Paul Harriss and other MLCs quizzed Mr Farrell on whether the Labor-Green Government now supported the Mulder amendment and whether the Signatories also agreed to the amendment. The question was unanswered and the Council adjoined for lunch.
AND,
• In Committee – Tasmanian Forest Agreement Bill, 16 April 2013
Mr FARRELL: It [The TFA Bill] may not get through – there is a pretty clear indication that whatever we do to this Bill, a lot of members are not going to support it in the third reading. But if it gets through, I suggest we leave the politics to the people in the Lower House. I personally have not had any discussions with the Signatories about how this [Mulder] amendment affects them. … I will have to read about it on [b]Tasmanian Times[/b], I imagine, because I could not get any sense out of [i]The Australian [/i] [newspaper article by Matt Denholm on Saturday 13 April 2013], but the photo was quite nice. ….
AND,
• Labor move clouds Tasmania forest deal, power sharing government
• by: Matthew Denholm
• From: The Australian
• April 16, 2013 12:36PM
TASMANIA’S forest peace deal is jeopardy and the state’s power sharing government faces a dangerous split after Labor backed changes to the landmark agreement.
The state government’s upper house leader, Craig Farrell, today revealed Labor would support an amendment to the forest peace deal legislation which green groups have warned threatens the agreement.
• George Harris: The plight of the timber industry in the Huon Region
• Christine Milne: Tasmanian Legislative Council wreckers of forest peace deal
• David Obendorf, WEDNESDAY: Law by Signatory unravels …
Mulder’s amendment would postpone the formal declaration of 270,000 ha of HCV forest destined for reservation until 1 October 2014 or until FSC certification is achieved for Tasmanian logging practise in native forests. October 2014 is later than the three ENGO signatories wanted.
Tony Mulder, MLC for Rumney: ‘If they want law then they will have to put up with what this Parliament gives them.’
Despite urging Upper House MPs against dramatic changes to the landmark agreement, Labor backed the Mulder amendment.
Craig Farrell, Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council: ‘The government believes… ahhm… that the amendment is materially consistent with the Tasmanian Forest Agreement particularly with regard to durability.’
It places the peace deal in jeopardy and potentially splits the Labor-Green minority government.
Cassy O’Connor, Green MHA for Denison: ‘I am worried that the process could be derailed by Legislative Councillors who seem to think that they know better than Signatories.’
The ENGO signatories remain tight-lipped on the changes to the legislation.
Ivan Dean, MLC for Windermere: ‘It won’t be a deal breaker, of course it won’t. If the Government are giving support to the amendment, we know very well that they have been some discussion with those [ENGO] groups.’
