Fenning timber mill in Bairnsdale
The supply of logs to the Fenning timber mill in Bairnsdale has “run out”, prompting Nationals MP for Gippsland East Tim Bull, to call for urgent intervention in Parliament. Source: Timberbiz
“This is a highly regarded local company that employs 50 people and contributes much to our community,” Mr Bull said.
“The Premier said he would walk with us in the bushfire recovery and I can assure you we cannot afford to lose a company like this or the jobs it provides.
“So, the action I am seeking is for the Minister to immediately supply sawlog grade timber to the mill,” Mr Bull told Parliament.
“Timber contractors are not working and as a result mills are out of logs. This is due to the fact that under this government, areas for harvest have been continually put into reserve, without other areas being returned to the sector. When this happens, something has to give.
“We’ve had enough pain in our region and this is something you can fix with the swipe of a pen, so I ask the Minister to ensure log supply is resumed as a matter of urgency.”
“We’ve only got enough logs to get through this week,” Fenning’s Resources Manager Brian Donchi said.
“I guess the issue is that Vicforests haven’t had enough coupes throughout the entire season due to so many coupes being tied up in the Federal Court.”
The Federal Court ruled in May that VicForests had breached provisions related to environmental conservation in the code of conduct, and that past and proposed logging would have a significant impact on the vulnerable greater glider and the critically endangered Leadbeater’s possum.
In her judgment, Justice Debra Mortimer found logging in 26 coupes had not complied with the central highlands RFA and that logging yet to be conducted in a further 41 coupes was not likely to be conducted in accordance with the RFA.
“This has left the Victorian timber industry with a log shortage as contractors haven’t had the work to produce the required allocation into the mills and now, we are facing not having enough logs,” Mr Donchi said.
“All mills have got a shortage across Australia; this not just Fenning timber.
“But we are probably the first mill facing the stoppage because of log supply,” he said.
“There is a solution. We have two large Ash coupes on Engineers Road which is 40km north of Bruthen that can be harvested. It’s just getting the approval.
“The contractors are sitting at home; we’ve got a mill here requiring the logs.
“It’s not the Central Highlands, it’s not Leadbeater possum country, it’s green trees. These coupes have been harvested and there should be no reason that contractors can’t go in there.”
The company is hoping not to have to lay staff off and is looking at options.
“We don’t want to stop the mill and have to put people off. That’s the bottom line,” Mr Donchi said.
Shadow Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh said there was enough timber available to ensure the mill would survive, but jobs were being lost because of the Victorian State Government’s “destructive policy agenda’’.
“Daniel Andrews is on a warpath to starve Victoria’s native timber industry of resource at the cost of local jobs,” Mr Walsh said.
“Labor’s destructive green agenda has already seen 100 people’s jobs with harvest and haulage contractors axed in Gippsland, with 80 machines parked up in the yards because they can’t get access to timber coupes.
“With almost half a million in finance payments due every month on those machines that can’t work, Labor is forcing Gippsland’s timber industry to the wall, just to further its political agenda.”
