Wellington Mayor Alan hall and Deputy Mayor Gayle Maher
The newly formed Native Timber Taskforce (NTT) has held its inaugural meeting and has begun planning its response to the State Government decision to cease native timber harvesting.
The NTT is chaired by Wellington Shire Council Mayor Alan Hall, with membership including East Gippsland Shire Council, Timber Towns Victoria, Australian Sustainable Hardwoods (ASH), Radial Timbers and the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU). Source: Timberbiz
Mayor Alan Hall said the NTT’s first meeting agreed on a Terms of Reference and began with discussing strategy to continue the pursuit of information from the State Government that underpinned their decision.
He said both Wellington and East Gippsland Shire Councils had approached the State Government and requested details of the information it used as a basis of making the decision to phase out native timber harvesting, but those requests had fallen on deaf ears.
“This decision impacts not only Gippsland communities that are dependent upon forestry and related activities, but also downstream employment and trades throughout Victoria,” Cr Hall said.
“In addition to this State Government decision, the recent action taken by Bunnings to stop sourcing native timbers from our local timber mills is likely to see an increase in imports that are clearly not subject to the same protocols and processes that exist here in Victoria, putting at risk some of the world’s most vulnerable species.
“To understand this decision, we need to know what information the State Government used in its decision-making process to kill o an industry that is so important to our region.”
Cr Hall said the NTT would not let the matter go and would work hard to get answers from the State Government.
“In this current economic environment, you can’t simply destroy a viable industry and replace it with something nebulous overnight,” he said.
“On the back of the drought, the bushfires, and the impact of the pandemic we need to sustain and grow existing business.
“This is not a time to destroy and think there are ready made replacements hanging on the rack.”
Cr Hall said the NTT welcomed the recent announcement that the State and Federal Governments would invest $4 million over four years to establish the Gippsland Centre of the National Institute for Forest Products Innovation and noted that the impetus of the Federal Government and the take up by the State Government was a move in the right direction.
“Importantly, we are well placed to assist, as we have within our municipalities of Wellington and East Gippsland the very best innovative operators,” he said.
“Clearly, we don’t intend to let this vital local and national industry go, it is more important than ever to ensure that we have a balanced sustainable economy for the future.
