The Australian Forest Products Association has welcomed Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s announcement today of a new Commonwealth-State Government program to leverage private sector investment in new timber plantations, which will help secure Australia’s future housing timber construction needs.
AFPA CEO Ross Hampton, who is in Tasmania today for the announcement, said the new timber plantations will support regional manufacturing jobs in Australia, ensure the next generation of Australians have timber to build their homes, and make a significant contribution to Australia’s emissions reduction goals.
“AFPA has been calling for urgent action by all levels of Government to address our current and future timber supply constraints, which will only worsen as global demand for renewable wood fibre increases if we do not act now to grow our timber plantation resource,” Mr Hampton said.
“Australia is in the grip of a critical housing timber shortage due to record building activity and imported timber drying up due to global demand. Without action to drive the plantings, the Federal Government’s goal to establish one billion new timber trees by 2030 will not be realised and a looming shortage of 250,000 house frames by 2035 will be imminent.”
Mr Hampton urged the state governments to work constructively with the Federal Government to ensure the program is a success and delivers the right trees in the right places.
“This announcement is a necessary and welcome return to the successful Federal-State partnership model which drove the planting of almost one billion timber trees in the last century, but has stagnated for the past 30 years,” he said.
“We look forward to seeing further detail on the announcement and working with the Government to progress much needed production tree plantings in Australia,” Mr Hampton said.
Victorian Forest Products Association CEO Deb Kerr said foresters and farmers in regional forestry hub areas such as Victoria’s Green Triangle, Gippsland and Murray regions would be eligible for funding.
“This would mean a total of $430 million to boost this vital sector and establish new plantations. That is a significant amount we have been calling for urgent action by all levels of Government to address our current and future timber supply constraints,” Ms Kerr said.
She urged the Victorian Government to work constructively with the Federal Government to ensure the program is successful in delivering the right trees in the right places.
“We look forward to seeing further detail on the announcement and working with the Government to progress much-needed production tree plantings in Australia,” Ms Kerr said.
Australian Forest Products Association NSW Chief Executive Officer Victor Violante said the timber and paper manufacturing sector in NSW had been calling for urgent action to grow the plantation estate to meet our future timber and fibre needs.
“Around a quarter of every timber house frame built in Australia is made in NSW, so it is vital that our timber regions have the resource they need to produce the timber to build our homes,” Mr Violante said.
“Our timber plantations not only support regional manufacturing jobs, they’re also an essential input into the construction sector and play an important role in NSW’s climate change mitigation.
“NSW’s timber industry faces many challenging years due to the impact of the Black Summer bushfires that burned so much of the timber estate. The pandemic has been a wake-up call that we can no longer rely on imports to fill the gap, so we have to support our manufacturing sector.”
