Anne Ruston
In an historic cross-jurisdictional, bipartisan statement, Australia’s forestry Ministers have released a position statement which calls for Australia to value and grow our forest industries. Source: Timberbiz
The Statement released by the Commonwealth Government and the governments of NSW, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, Northern Territory and South Australia states that all governments “strongly support Australia’s forest industries”.
The ministers concerned were Senator the Hon. Anne Ruston, Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, the Hon. Paul Toole MP, New South Wales Minister for Lands and Forestry, the Hon. Jaala Pulford MLC, Victorian Minister for Agriculture, the Hon. Leon Bignell MP, South Australian Minister for Forests, the Hon. Dave Kelly MLA, Western Australian Minister for Forestry, the Hon. Guy Barnett MP, Tasmanian Minister for Resources, the Hon. Ken Vowles MLA, Northern Territory Minister for Primary Industry and Resources and Mr Mick Gentleman MLA, Australian Capital Territory Minister for the Environment and Heritage.
The statement said:
We, the Commonwealth, state and territory forestry ministers, strongly support Australia’s forestry industries. We believe that they have an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable and prosperous future.
We collectively endorse the objectives of the Forest Industry Advisory Council’s report, ‘Transforming Australia’s forest products industry’. We strongly support its vision that the forestry industries will lead the transition to a bioeconomy of which Australians can be proud and the objectives of:
- having the right trees in the right place at the right scale
- producing bioproducts using all parts of the tree to a cellular level
- being environmentally friendly, socially responsible and valued by the community.
We value the industries’ significant contribution to Australia’s wellbeing. The forestry industries provide jobs in regional economies across Australia. It is an innovative sector, providing new products and ongoing employment in regional Australia, today and into the future.
We recognise that the industries source wood from sustainably managed forests.
We support the sustainable management of Australia’s native forests, and through this, providing timber resources for industry while protecting high value native forests.
We recognise that the forestry industries strive to balance their resource use with the maintenance of environmental and societal values.
We believe that Australia’s forestry industries have an important role to play in transitioning to a lower carbon economy. Sustainable forest management and the use of emerging forest products and technologies will play an important role in delivering this future for all Australians.
We support collaboration and cooperation among all governments and industry to achieve shared outcomes.
We commit to working together to ensure the ongoing future of Australia’s forestry industries.
Chair of the Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) Mr Greg McCormack said: “I welcome this joint position statement on behalf of the 120,000 Australians who work in our renewable forest industries right across the whole value chain.
“Workers, in the bush harvesting and replanting native and plantation trees through to truss and frame producers, will take heart that our Federal and State leaders see a big sustainable future in all we do.
“Australia’s forest industries not only pour $23 billion into Australia’s economy each year, we are the truly sustainable, environmentally friendly industry. In this country, every tree we harvest is replaced. AFPA looks forward to working with all governments to ensure the right policy settings open the way for further growth of our industries.”
