PETE GODFREY
I agree with John #10 I am also a member of Timber Workers For Forests. I have spent the last 7 years trying to get the industry here to actually apply the codes of practice. Of course it is too expensive to engage in real forestry in Tasmania as the prime aim is to fill the orders for woodchips.
James is correct in his statements that we need a fundamental change in the industry. Before woodchipping there were approx 440 sawmills in Tasmania, now a count of all those advertising in the phone book (including portable millers) comes to only 50.
The workers are probably the lowest paid around, I am not sure of all but I know sawmill workers who are being paid $14 per hour. Not much is it?
There was a study in the 1970s in NSW that came to the conclusion that there was a 1 in 13 chance of a log faller being killed on the job if he stayed in the industry all his life.
Yes it is a very dangerous job, not one where people should be underpaid, rushed and pushed to fill quotas.
We need a real, sawlog driven, high value, low volume industry with proper marketing of the minor species timbers as well as management that takes into account the long growth rates of these timbers. Plus taking into account the carbon store potential of the forests.
The RFA is a farce, none of the so called codes of practice are adhered to in this low value, high volume woodchip driven industry and as one company takes a minimum of 85% of the product it seems to be fair to slate a large proportion of the blame for the state of the industry at Gunns feet.
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