The winds of change are blowing!

THE WINDS of change are blowing … politically and industry-wise.
The newly-appointed Prime Minister Julia Gillard wants to take her credentials to the people and let them decide if she is THE candidate for the job. She’s no stranger to making her presence felt and, with reasoned and factual backing in her arguments, Gillard’s approach to rectifying the mining tax was just another tick on the positive side of the ledger.
That same reasoned approach augurs well for the forestry industry.
And the industry, too, is seeing times of turmoil; times of uncertainty, but is also seeing times of change and unification.
It’s only early stages (very early), but a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the boards of major players the National Association of Forest Industries (NAFI) and Australian Plantation Products and Paper Industry Council (A3P). The MoU specifies or details the intent to try to create a single national representative body. It doesn’t specify how or when, but, most importantly, it outlines the intent for unification within the industry.
Talks about a single controlling body are nothing new, having been trotted out several times in recent years. However, with the current somewhat parlous state of the industry the desire to move to unification has hit a new high.
According to Greg McCormack (one of a group of six heading up the bid for change – other members are Linda Sewell, Jim Snelson, Vince Erasmus, Bryan Tisher and Stephen Hawkins) such a move is a necessary step to address major industry issues and to be more effective.
He concedes that there are many areas to be worked through in relation to current associations and their structures but he believes that a report and recommendations on the single-unit-proposal will be drawn up later this year.
Industry insiders believe that the unification bid is “warranted” but also point to current crises that are a matter of priority. As one said: “We’ve got some issues running at the moment but we would probably like to see some clear air before we get into this. What we are seeing at this stage is the first stage of an exploration that’s been done in good faith but it’s too early to speculate where it will end up just yet.
“We think that discussions toward unification of the industry are worth having and should be had.”
Just one part of the unification process would also see positive and factual dialogue between the industry and environmentalists. This in itself would be a major stepping stone in ensuring the future of the industry.
It is not known what form this single entity will have, whether it results in amalgamation or whether it sees the formation of a specialist Australian Forest and Timber Council (for want of a better term) with each of the current bodies having representation on that council.
Now, at least the ball has been bounced and the game is on!