The key role timber products can play in helping Australia achieve its climate goals has been recognised through a newly released House of Representative Standing Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources report called “Aussie logs for Aussie jobs”. Source: Timberbiz
The Committee’s inquiry considered challenges preventing growth in Australia’s timber industry and investigated potential solutions to current issues.
The Committee Chair, Mr Rick Wilson MP, noted the ongoing decline in the extent of the domestic plantation estate, and stated that ‘more needs to be done if the timber industry is to flourish into the future’.
“From greater investment in forestry research and development capabilities, farm forestry, and the exciting new possibilities presented by carbon storage initiatives, the industry is ripe for innovation and growth. With the appropriate policy settings, the plantation industry may once again have the potential to expand, and indeed thrive,” Mr Wilson said.
Mr Wilson also highlighted the importance of encouraging greater transparency in softwood pricing.
The Committee recommended the Australian Government support stakeholders to develop a voluntary code of conduct for the timber industry to facilitate long-term supply contracts between producers and processors for the mutual benefit of both.
Mr Wilson added that it was anticipated that such an arrangement would better support the growth of an efficient domestic processing sector, while reducing the risks associated with reliance on export markets for plantation owners.
Australian Forest Products Association Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ross Hampton welcomed the influential Committee’s endorsement of forest industries’ call for the recognition of the carbon stored in all wood products.
“AFPA welcomes the Committee’s recommendation for the urgent development of a carbon accounting method that recognises stored carbon in the built environment, as well as important recommendations around removing regulatory barriers to production tree planting for farmers and landowners in all the Regional Forestry Hubs,” Mr Hampton said.
“We also welcome the recommendation that the Federal Government establish the two missing Regional Forestry Hubs of North Northern Territory and South East New South Wales.
“Currently these regions are being left behind in the important collaborative work being done by other Hubs and are missing out on the funding provided to the other nine Hubs to enable them to develop regional growth plans.
“AFPA is also happy to work with the Committee’s recommendation that industry take the lead in the development of a voluntary code of conduct between the national tree growing companies and processors.
“I thank the Chair Rick Wilson MP and all the Committee members for the careful and considered approach they have taken to these important issues, including multiple visits to important forest industry regions as they have developed the recommendations,” Mr Hampton said.
The report can be downloaded:
