Ross Hampton
Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Forest Products Association, Ross Hampton will speak on ‘Australian Forest Industries – Sunset or Sunrise?’ at the Forest Industry Council’s (FIC) annual dinner on 19 June. Source: Timberbiz
The dinner will be held at The Club in Tumut.
Mr Hampton will focus on the opportunity for the forest products industry to be a sunrise industry, or risk becoming a sunset industry.
“If you work in forestry and forest industries you should be issued a ‘bat cape’ with your personal protective equipment as you are a superhero,” he said.
“The world’s demand for fibre will triple before 2050 as the global population grows to nine billion. There is going to be more construction in the next 40 years than has occurred since Noah picked up a mallet.
“Sustainable forestry operations are not ‘a nice to have’ – they are ‘a must have’. We are the best in the world and the world needs us to do more of the heavy lifting.”
FIC Executive Officer, David Priem, said greater engagement with schools in the Riverina Highlands and a growing membership base would be among the achievements to be highlighted at FIC’s Annual General Meeting, which is to be held earlier in the day at the TAFE NSW Riverina Institute Forest Industry Training Centre.
David Priem
Mr Priem said FIC has had another growth year and continues to be highly regarded as an effective forest industry association with a focus on safety, training and industry promotion.
“FIC has continued with a Partnership Arrangement with TAFE NSW Riverina Institute, which has facilitated support to FIC and the extension of Forest Industry Training Centre training and assessment services to around 1400 students across NSW, Victoria and Queensland,” he said.
Mr Priem said another highlight of the year has been FIC’s support of the use of state-of-the-art John Deere and Waratah forest harvester and forwarder simulators in the region’s schools to give students a better appreciation of careers in the forest industry.
“The simulators have been provided by TAFE NSW Forest Industry Training Centre and the program, the first of its kind in NSW, is designed to help connect school students to industry,’ Mr Priem said.
FIC also welcomes new members Garners, and an alliance with Timber Communities Australia.
“That brings FIC membership up to a very healthy 32 businesses across southern NSW and north east Victoria with a combined direct and indirect value of production of around $1.2 billion a year,” Mr Priem said.
