Parkside Wandoan mill
More Western Australian jobs are expected to be created in the local forestry industry over the coming months with Queensland miller, Parkside Timber purchasing two South-West mills. Source: Timberbiz
Parkside Timber, a Queensland-based company, has a long history of creating hardwood products on the east coast of Australia. The company has now expanded to Western Australia after purchasing Auswest Timbers’ Greenbushes mill and Nannup Timber Processing.
Only recently Parkside Timber purchased WA’s second largest timber mill at Greenbushes which was owned by Auswest Timbers.
“This is the largest native forest industry private investment consolidation and restructure in 15 years which will secure hundreds of direct and indirect jobs in the industry,” WA Forestry Minister Dave Kelly said.
The company has identified WA as a growth opportunity given the sustainability credentials of the WA native forestry industry. It plans to re-open the Manjimup processing centre which was closed in 2016 and focus on value-adding timber through secondary processing.
The company will also invest $1.5 million in a finger jointing machine to process high-value products such as furniture, long-length flooring and decking.
The change of ownership provides investment and employment certainty, and the potential to create local jobs in the South-West region. The native forestry industry injects $220 million into the Western Australian economy each year and supports more than 800 jobs in the forestry industry.
“The purchase follows the release of the McGowan Government’s Djarlma Plan which set out the strategic direction for the future of the Western Australian forestry industry to support healthy forests and WA jobs,” Mr Kelly said.
