Tasmania’s private forest estate owners are back in the tent with the state government’s announcement today of its new Ministerial Advisory Council on Forestry.
The Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association (TFGA) is one of a number of industry bodies named today to advise Resources Minister Paul Harriss on developing the industry.
“The state’s 1600 private forest owners collectively manage over 850,000 hectares of native forest, about one third of Tasmania’s native forest estate. They were frozen out of the secret peace talks and the Special Council under the previous government,” TFGA chief executive Jan Davis said today.
“We were constantly patted on the head and reassured that the Tasmanian Forests Agreement was only about the public resource and that there would be no spill-over effects onto the private sector.
“Blind Freddy could see that was never going to happen and this group of unelected and unaccountable people sat behind closed doors doing deals that impacted seriously on the lives and livelihoods of farmers and other stakeholders.
“The true scale of the damage is now clear, with hundreds of millions of dollars wiped off the value of the private industry as a result of this ill-conceived process,” Ms Davis said.
“Tasmania needs a strategic plan for the industry that embraces supply and demand expectations across the whole industry,” Ms Davis said.
“Private forests have generated significant resources in the conventional forest products industry in the past, and they can continue to do so while contributing significant positive environmental and social outcomes.
“Importantly, we need to look to the future, too, and open pathways and options for new products and services.
“We welcome this initiative and we look forward to working with other stakeholders to move past the old-fashioned rhetoric and create a vibrant and sustainable forest industry that once again delivers valued outcomes for all Tasmanians.” Ms Davis said.
Mr Harriss has announced he will chair the advisory council with former Legislative Council president, Sue Smith, a director of the TFGA, as deputy chair.
TFGA Chief Executive Jan Davis
