Special Timbers Support for Forestry Plan

The Hodgman Government’s forestry reform plan is about delivering resource security, financial sustainability and job security for thousands of Tasmanian workers.

This includes resource security for the iconic Special Timbers sector which was one of the biggest casualties of the Labor-Green forestry deal.

We welcome the strong support of the Tasmanian Special Timbers Alliance for our reform plan, which will ensure the future for our handcrafted timber products prized by tourists visiting Salamanca and other iconic destinations. It will also ensure access for raw material supply for our fine furniture makers and provide certainty of access for Tasmanian timber boat builders whose workmanship is recognised as world class.

Our plan will enable access to the Future Potential Production Forest land for selective harvesting of specialty timbers from October 2017, subject to a new Special Species Timbers Management Plan which is currently under development.

The Government also will ask the public production forest manager to consider the opportunity for special species timbers access to around 340,000 hectares of the Permanent Timber Production Zone which is in informal reserves or otherwise unavailable for commercial eucalypt harvest.

We will continue to provide strong backing for all aspects of our renewable, sustainable forest enterprises, and for the thousands of workers and regional communities supported by the industry.

The challenge now is for the Labor Party, which claims to have seen the error of its ways on special timbers, to follow the lead of the Tasmanian Special Timbers Alliance and support the Government’s plan.
Guy Barnett, Minister for Resources