The Andrews government is being accused of plundering timber from Tasmania after announcing the closure of the Victorian industry. The Herald Sun reported this week that the Heyfield Mill, 49% owned by the Victorian Government and operated by Australian Sustainable Hardwoods, has been importing logs from across the Bass Strait for several months. Source: Timberbiz
It comes after premier Daniel Andrews’ announcement in May that Victoria’s native logging industry would shut down by 2024, six years earlier than previously planned and has prompted calls for the Tasmanian Government to step in and cap the amount of timber being sent to the mainland.
The private partners of the Heyfield Mill purchased Artec’s Western Junction Sawmill in north Tasmania and began buying up local timber and shipping it back to Victoria to be processed in the state’s east.
The Herald Sun said the move has outraged Tasmanian industry figures who warn the Andrews’ government was commercially killing local family-owned mills in Tasmania by offering above market price for timber logs.
There were also concerns the increased competition for resources would undoubtedly lead to unsustainable logging in Tasmania.
Tasmanian Independent MP John Tucker first raised the issue last week in Daily Timber News claiming a Victorian timber company was undercutting Tasmanian competitors and jeopardising the State’s timber industry.
Mr Tucker did not name the Victorian company involved.
“While we acknowledge and support the beneficial collaboration between Victorian and Tasmanian companies, which creates jobs and bolsters the local economy, we vehemently condemn the underhanded tactics being employed by Victorian companies, in collaboration with the Tasmanian government owned entity, Sustainable Timbers Tasmania,” Mr Tucker said.
Terry Edwards, a spokesman for a coalition of Tasmanian mills, told the Herald Sun the Victorian government “had closed its own logging industry” and was now “pillaging” resources in other states.
“Our mills are concerned that they are being expected to go into competition and an open tender process, where they are required to go up against the might of the Treasury of Victoria.
“These are family-owned sawmills. Some with over 100 years operating in regional communities of Tasmania, and they are being expected to compete with the Victorian Government who closed down its own forest industry, and is now seeking to obtain wood for its own sawmill that it owns itself in Gippsland.”
Mr Edwards told the Herald Sun that up to 40 truckloads of wood per week was now crossing Bass Strait headed for Victorian mills, and called for the Tasmanian Government to step in “and enter into meaningful discussions with Tasmania’s forest industry to ensure that its state owned company, Sustainable Timber Tasmania, does not provide an advantage to the Victorian government”.
Tasmanian Minister for Resources, Felix Ellis slammed the Victorian Government for the move.
“The Tasmanian Government has been very clear: we are not here to fix Dan Andrews’ disastrous decision to shut down Victoria’s native forestry sector and that Tasmanian timber will support Tasmanian jobs,” he told the Herald Sun.
“All sawlog from Tasmania’s publicly managed forests is supplied to Tasmanian based sawmills for on-island processing. Sustainable Timber Tasmania’s wood supply contracts with major Tasmanian customers are in place until 2027.”
The private operator of both Heyfield Mill and the Western Junction Mill did not comment on Mr Tucker or the Herald Sun claims.
When asked about the importation of Tasmanian wood to Heyfield a Victorian Government spokesman said: “The Andrews Labor Government is supporting mill workers across the industry, including at Heyfield.”
Victorian Nationals Leader Peter Walsh slammed the move and said the government was playing political games.
“I’m not opposed to commerce but it’s hypocritical that the Andrews Government would close the Victorian industry down but be a major shareholder in a business that’s now going to Tasmania to buy timber to bring back to Victoria.
“I don’t believe that the decisions of the Andrews Government around native timber industries has anything to do with conservation. It all has to do with politics.”
