Before the last State election in March 2010 FIAT CEO, Terry Edwards put out this media release:
Chief Executive of the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania said the Greens policy promise of a net increase of 542 jobs was at best fanciful and dramatically understated the adverse employment impact of the proposed new reserve system.
“It is voodoo economics to suggest that removing in excess of 140,000 ha of the highest quality forest that would produce the native forest material for furniture manufacturers, joinery manufacturers, the craft industry and builders and replacing it with plantation grown hardwood could create jobs,” Mr Edwards said.
The [Tasmanian Greens] Forest Transition Strategy proposes substituting high quality native forest sawlogs with plantation grown log, yet extensive research by CSIRO, CRC for Forestry and University of Tasmania demonstrates that plantation wood is not a realistic substitute for native forest sawlogs for high quality outputs.
“The one clear outcome of the election campaign has been the deafening silence of The Wilderness Society, Environment Tasmania and Still Wild, Still Threatened who in the past would be conducting forest protest activities at this time of year. It is clear Mr McKim has demanded their silence.”
[Reference: FIAT Media Release – Greens Forest Policy – More of the Same 10 Mar 2010]
http://www.fiatas.com.au/index.php?id=374
A week earlier Mr Edwards had congratulated the State Liberal Party on its 13-point Forest Policy.
Chief Executive of the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania (FIAT) Terry Edwards said “the Liberals policy provides considerable certainty to the industry which is very welcome in the normally uncertain environment of an election where forestry has been treated as something of a political pawn.”
FIAT congratulates the Liberals for having the courage to remain committed to objective policy creation based on good science and research. The industry is greatly appreciative of the clear statement of support that is encapsulated within this policy document.
One of 13 points highlighted by the Liberals forest policy was Point 5:
Up to 150,000 hectares of high conservation value forests, including old growth forests such as the Styx, Weld Valley, and Florentine can be locked up – Following the commercial decision of Gunns to end native forest harvesting, once resource supply, including room for growth, is secured for the remaining operators, it is expected that some of Gunns sawlog allocation can be retired. This means that most of our remaining old growth forest can be preserved and protected (apart from a specific and small speciality timbers resource), as identified through the socio-economic and environmental study.
[Reference: FIAT Media Release Liberals Forest Policy is Welcomed2 Mar 2010]
http://www.fiatas.com.au/index.php?id=368
Note that Mr Edwards was critical of the Tasmanian Greens for‘removing in excess of 140,000 ha of the highest quality forest’ and yet failed to mention the Tasmanian Liberals policy of ‘up to 150,000 hectares of high conservation value forests, including old growth forests such as the Styx, Weld Valley, and Florentine can be locked up.’
Note also that Mr Edwards is dismissive – ‘based on the extensive research by CSIRO, CRC for Forestry and University of Tasmania’ – that plantation wood is a realistic substitute
for native forest sawlogs for high quality outputs.’
• Who has the Wood on whom?
In September 2004 the Tasmanian Greens leader Peg Putt launched their Forest Transition Strategy ‘to protect forests and create sustainable jobs’.
The Strategy was based on the belief that existing plantations offered the opportunity to create new forestry jobs from valued added processing ventures.
The Forest Strategy stated:
‘Over the last decade the Greens have commissioned expert studies into the volume and availability of Tasmania’s plantation resource in order to understand the capacity to use existing plantations as a substitute for production from wild native forests.’
The Tasmanian Greens remain convinced of the increasing importance of the plantation estate to the future of the State’s timber industry.
Their analysis demonstrated that ‘the production of veneers, engineered and manufactured timber products such as MDF (medium density fibreboard), LVL(laminated veneer lumber) and ESL (elongated strand lumber) are the best options for optimising Tasmania’s plantation timber resource in terms of employment, investmentand resource consumption.’
‘A pulp mill is not a favoured option as it would reinforce thequarry-status of Tasmania as a price taking, undifferentiated commodity producer.’
Their Strategy claimed the Forest Enterprises Australia (FEA) saw-mill at Bell Bay had successfully used plantation E. nitens ‘as young as 10 years’.
The Transition Strategy conceded that the bulk of the annual plantation harvest volume – from both eucalypt and pine plantations – was ending up as woodchips and pulpwood (72%) with 28% producing sawlogs (mainly from radiate pine).
The Tasmanian Greens were convinced that there was a wall of plantation wood on its way from the ever expanding hardwood plantations [MIS plantations].They estimated that even if plantation expansion were to cease in 2004 there would still be an estimated 1,000,000 cubic metres of plantation hardwood sawlog available annually from 2020 and nearly 6 million tonnes of hardwood pulpwood available annually.
Figure shows plantation hardwood timber forecast out to 2029.
The Strategy states: ‘More than 5,000,000 tonnes/annum of plantation timber is expected to be available inTasmania within ten years [2014].’
The Greens believed that the huge investment in the establishment of hardwood plantations in Tasmania, the time was right to begin positioning for new products and new markets.
The Tasmanian Greens’ Forest Transition Strategy suggested that ‘a strong argument can be made for diversifying away from primarily pulpwood products to capitalise on opportunities for value adding through solid wood production, particularly veneers, and engineered products such as LVL (laminated veneer lumber). Growth in reconstituted and glue laminated products favours plantation grown wood, with many of these products incorporating low-grade wood and small diameter logs from fast grown, short rotation plantations.’
The Greens advocated production of veneers (sliced and rotary peeled) from our plantation hardwoods (E. nitens and E. globulus) with the highest quality logs from over 1 million cubic metres per annum of eucalypt plantation logs should be used as feedstock for veneer mills as an alternative to native forest logs. [Ta Ann entered Tasmania in 2007 setting up two veneer mills; they have used peeler billets from mature-age regrowth forests and claim to have had difficulty peeling plantation-grade eucalypt.]
