Forestry talks tough as chip plant ditched

THE forestry industry is demanding the State Government clear the hurdles for investment after the failure of a proposed southern woodchip export facility.

Southwood Fibre ditched plans for a facility at Dover after failing to come to an agreement with salmon farmer Tassal.

The Department of State Growth has enlisted former Forestry Tasmania chief Evan Rolley to investigate other options.

But the Forest Industries Association has warned another failure would cost the Tasmanian economy hundreds of millions of dollars.

Southwood chief executive James Neville Smith said the inability to export residues was costing his business $500,000 a year.

“I expect they’ll put the shoulder to the wheel and hopefully, for the whole of the southern part of Tasmania, they’ll come up with a solution,” Mr Neville Smith said.

“They need to clear the path for it to be done.” Southwood will not consider another location and Mr Neville Smith said other proponents were unlikely without more certainty.

“The issue of the location of a site becomes very difficult when you try to tick all the boxes so there’s no impact on anyone,” he said.

“There’s very few players who will be prepared to do what I’ve done and take the public beating and the brand damage that you inevitably take.”

FIAT chief executive Craig Jones said stranded plantation assets would mean a massive economic impact if no solution was found.

“There’s a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars, not a few hundred thousand or a million a year, which has a significant impact on the Tasmanian economy as well as the southern economy,” he said.

Mr Jones said government and the industry needed to work together to find a workable way forward.

“It’s critical infrastructure so whatever is the best way forward is the way we should take,” he said.

Mr Neville Smith supported the previous Labor-Green government’s Tasmanian Forestry Agreement between the industry and environmentalists.

He said maintaining the agreement, which was legislated out of existence by the Hodgman Government, may have changed the landscape after green groups objected to his proposal.

“We’re experiencing now all the negative aspects of the TFA without enjoying any of the benefits,” he said.

Labor spokesman Shane Broad said the Liberal government had failed in its attempts to foster a solution.

“(Resources Minister) Guy Barnett must guarantee that an export solution will be identified before the end of the year,” Dr Broad said.

The Greens welcomed the decision as a community-driven outcome.

Mr Barnett said the State Growth investigation would be treated as a high priority.