Forestry unveils $35m wishlist

TASMANIA’S forestry industry has issued its election wishlist, asking for $35 million to boost road and rail infrastructure including an upgrade of the Plenty Link Rd to get wood to northern ports without moving through Hobart.

The Australian Forest Products Association and the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania also want a forestry hub to be established in the southeast ($1 million) and to secure the future of Launceston’s National Institute for Forest Products ($8 million).

FIAT said the State Government would need to match the $35 million being sought from Canberra.

Former Forestry Tasmania chief Evan Rolley released his report to the State Government after being commissioned by Primary Industries Minister Guy Barnett.

“A key project is the Plenty Link Rd upgrade and related rail infrastructure which would efficiently transport forest products between the Huon and Derwent valleys, providing links to northern ports,” the report said.

“This road and rail upgrade would streamline log haulage activities and provide significant local and environmental benefits including reducing heavy freight from public roads, in particular the Huon Highway, Macquarie St and the Brooker Highway.”

The Federal Government has committed $1 million for a Regional Forest Industry Hub in the North-West.

But FIAT said the southeast was also home to a strong forestry industry which is a hub in its own right.

The Rolley report recommends a “southern hub” under the Federal Government’s National Forest Industries Plan, taking in the Boyer/New Norfolk and Brighton regions.

It said the NIFPI centre in Launceston had been successful in kickstarting almost $10 million in research projects from the $4 million in Government funding.