Funding for training in the timber industry has been announced as part of Round Two of the Federal Government’s suite of Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Grants, but insiders say they’re struggling to find workers. Source: Tumut and Adelong Times
The funding provides for up to $1.925 worth of Skills Development training in the Snowy Valleys for forest and timber businesses and workers. The official announcement said the program would involve training “up to 400 workers to support this crucial local industry and ensure a more sustainable economic future.”
Peter Crowe, Chair of the Softwoods Working Group (SWG) said it was encouraging to see the industry hasn’t been forgotten but said without people willing to take up the jobs, the industry will face a pinch sooner than expected.
“I think the whole thing’s having a rather perverse outcome, in that all the people who were going to go have gone and now we’ve gone back the other way with looking to recruit people,” he said.
“There are positions vacant at both sawmills.”
Mr Crowe said the tight housing market in Tumbarumba has put additional pressure on the Hyne Timber Mill, with a raft of retirees leaving the mill and potential new employees unable to find suitable housing.
Katie Fowden at Hyne said they were still looking into the particulars of the training funding announcement but confirmed there are currently multiple vacancies at the Tumbarumba Mill in the role of Process Operator.
“We have been struggling to recruit due to a combination of issues being uncertainty following the bushfires, a lack of available accommodation for people to relocate to Tumbarumba and high demand for workers across the agricultural sector as a result of the lack of international backpackers,” she said.
“We are not making any job losses at Tumbarumba. We are strongly encouraging people to join our team. If people are worried about lacking experience or perhaps wondering how to juggle work with a family, we like to support our team members so that work will fit in with life and not the other way around.”
Ms Fowden described Hyne as a family-owned business and promised the company is “committed to developing our people and supporting the local communities in which we operate.”
However, Mr Crowe foretold a national timber crunch as the size of plantations shrink across the country and the demand for new housing products continues to grow.
“What the SWG has been doing is making sure that the situation the industry is in is not forgotten and when issues do arise that they get the necessary attention,” he said.
“The Snowy Valleys was one of the hardest-hit LGAs in the state (by the 2019-20 bushfire) … Forestry is 30 years away from full recovery.”
Mr Crowe said Australia is “running out of timber” with builders waiting 20 weeks or more for trusses.
