The Tasmanian State Government and the state-owned company formerly known as Forestry Tasmania are remaining tight-lipped on the sale of the state’s public forest plantations. Source: The Mercury
As of July 1, Forestry Tasmania became known as Sustainable Timber Tasmania under a State Government restructure.
The restructure was part of the Liberals’ promise to make the entity sustainable and free of public subsidies, and a key element was the sale of Sustainable Timber Tasmania’s pulpwood plantations.
The sale of the plantations was flagged by then resources minister Paul Harriss in April 2015 as a way of keeping Forestry Tasmania solvent without continued public subsidies.
In October, Resources Minister Guy Barnett said only the pulpwood plantations would be sold under a further tweaking of the restructure.
In State Budget Estimates last month, Mr Barnett said final bids for the plantation sale had been received and were being considered.
Mr Barnett said the Government would not prop up Forestry Tasmania with subsidies after July 1, but the budget contained $12 million to cover the entity’s community service obligations such as tourist roads.
Mr Barnett said yesterday he hoped to have news on the plantation sale “in the near future” but would not give a date for the process to be finalised.
“The board has advised the Government that it’s going in accordance with the plan. We are pleased with that feedback, we are feeling positive and hopeful and we look forward to a further report from the board in the near future,” he said.
A spokesman for Sustainable Timber Tasmania said the business was not in a position to make a public statement about the plantation sale.
Labor resources spokesman David Llewellyn said the transition from Forestry Tasmania to Sustainable Timber Tasmania had been exposed as an expensive and embarrassing PR stunt.
“The minister needs to come clean on how much the name change has cost and how many staff remain employed in the business,” Mr Llewellyn said.
“The Liberals have gone awfully quiet over the sale of Tasmania’s plantation assets. The sale was supposed to be completed by July 1 but the Government’s silence is deafening.”
