A dive into the State’s timber industry will occur with the committee on matters relating to the timber industry in the Limestone Coast and other regions of South Australia being reinstated. Source: The Border Watch
The committee was established in May 2019 and was chaired by the now Minister for Regional Development and Forestry Clare Scriven.
It aimed to inquire into and report on the exporting of wood fibre and other matters regarding the timber industry in the region.
At the meeting in March 2020, the committee resolved to suspend meetings for several months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the committee’s interim report, which was made publicly available in February 2022, the suspension delayed the committee’s work in gathering evidence and reporting it to the Legislative Council.
Throughout its time, the committee heard evidence from a number of forestry industry representatives, individuals and small to medium businesses associated with the industry.
The interim report states the committee did not have “sufficient time” to finalise and table its report before the end of the previous State Government.
It did put forward a recommendation which stated the Legislative Council establish a select committee in the next Parliament to receive the evidence tabled by the previous committee and make a final report to the council.
Current chairperson of the committee and leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Nicola Centofanti said it was “disappointing and frustrating” the previous committee was unable to complete its work.
“I value the work this committee has done and still needs to do because there are still significant issues that need to be addressed in the forestry industry,” Ms Centofanti said.
“There are also huge opportunities that we cannot afford to miss out on.
“After talking to key stakeholders, I felt it was vital the committee re-engage with the industry and invite updates submissions.”
Ms Centofanti said it was about hearing directly from the industry about what was working well, what opportunities were presenting themselves for future growth and to identify issues which needed urgent attention.
South Australia Timber Processors Association chief executive officer David Quill said the association would certainly be resubmitting to try and secure the industry’s future.
“The submissions are to do with the timber industry’s future and the whole idea is for the future of the timber industry with our objectives being around sustainability and the long-term survival of various mills in operation,” Mr Quill said.
“It is important to resubmit to the inquiry because we put a lot of work into the last one and there has been significant changes being taken since then.
“What we really want to do with the new inquiry is to outline how factual our predictions and concerns were at the time of the original inquiry.”
He said he was happy the committee had reopened the inquiry for submissions, and he could not understand why the previous committee’s report was never published.
“The interim report says there is no report, it is a non-event and all it did was tell those who did make submissions that it was a waste of time,” Mr Quill said.
“We understand the government has limited ability to make changes given the forests have been sold and runs as a business, but we want to see some of the clauses in the lease agreement changed.”
Limestone Coast Local Government Association (LCLGA) executive officer Tony Wright said he would encourage any businesses or individuals with an invested interest in the timber industry to make a submission and that he would speak with fellow members about reviewing the LCLGA’s previous submission and updating it.
Submissions into the inquiry remain open and can be sent to [email protected]
