A motion supporting the timber industry in New South Wales passed at the July State Labor Annual State Conference has been warmly welcomed by the industry. Source: Timberbiz
The NSW Labor Party adopted the new forestry policy put up by the CFMEU Manufacturing division, which will see an increase the volumes of timber for residential housing, the size of the plantation estate expanded, and deliver support for the future of native forestry and sustainable forest management.
It is understood the ALP NSW policy becomes binding on the Party’s parliamentary wing.
It also reinforces the policy the Labor Party took to the last State election, which was to maintain a viable, sustainable timber industry.
Australian Forest Contractors Association general manager Tim Lester said that on face value, “it looks awesome”.
“As is always the way with most of these things there can be a lot of interpretation, and is there wiggle room,” Mr Lester said.
But he said that given the move towards the Great Koala National Park, the decision by the party to accept the CFMEU’s motion was very important.
“One of the things about the Great Koala National Park is the notion that the State Government had, in its election commitment, a sort of a twin priority.
“One was to create the Great Koala National Park.
“The second was to maintain a viable, sustainable timber industry.
“The position of the environmental movement is there is no place for a timber industry,” Mr Lester said.
“And the base proponents of the Great Koala National Park are also very explicit in saying they don’t believe that the timber industry and the national park can coexist.”
But Mr Lester said recent science-based evidence indicated that there is no reason koalas and greater gliders, and other biodiversity attributes, can’t successfully coexist with a timber industry.
“That doesn’t mean that the timber industry should get just free rein, or that there aren’t special places that need to be protected.
“Of course there are special places that need to be protected, and the industry needs to be managed and regulated.”
But Mr Lester said that on balance not all forest is “Daintree or Tarkine”.
“A lot of it is scrub on rough country that needs to be managed.
“Pretty much the only thing that it’s good for is trees.”
Mr Lester said that if this rough country was managed for productive trees and forest, then industry, through the supply chain, actually ended up paying for a lot of the management of State forests and national parks.
“We accept that the government has made an election commitment, that the government thinks that creating a Great Koala National Park is actually something that it should do.
“And we accept that we are actually negotiating what that looks like in practice.
“And that comes back to what does it actually mean to be a sustainable and viable timber industry.”
