Securing a Sustainable Future for Forestry

The Hodgman Liberal Government is as committed today to rebuilding Tasmania’s forest industry as the day we were elected.
While a resurgence of confidence is driving growth in the industry, the fact is that the disastrous Labor-Green forest deal left behind a broken business model, with Forestry Tasmania (FT) requiring ongoing public subsidies.
This Government has been very clear that FT must operate on a commercial footing, and that’s why its advice on its financial sustainability is serious.
We will not take money away from our hospitals and our schools – from vulnerable Tasmanians and from our future generations – to continue to subsidise the unsustainable business model left to us by Labor and the Greens.
The situation is a direct result of the previous government’s forest deal, which locked up large parts of Tasmania. This made it harder for FT to access the quality and quantity of timber with consequences for the cost of roads and harvesting and distance to market.
We will maintain all of the legislated and contractual wood supply obligations.
What we need to do, given FT’s advice, is to take a closer look at how we do that, and earlier access to the 400,000 hectares of Future Potential Production Forest land is, quite rightly, an option.
As I said yesterday, I will have more to say on this in coming weeks, but it is important to note that options are limited.
There are three options:
• There is the Greens’ approach – to shut down industry and put thousands of Tasmanians out of work;
• There is the Labor way – robbing $100 million from frontline services like police, hospitals and schools to subsidise FT’s commercial business; or
• There is the Liberal Government’s approach of looking for a sensible commercial solution to provide long-term financial sustainability for both Forestry Tasmania and the industry.
Meanwhile, the Government will not be deterred by those who claim that we are looking for a “war” on this issue.
This is appalling rhetoric and it should cease.
Guy Barnett, Minister for Resources