Support overhaul

Coalition MPs, Melina Bath and Gary Blackwood said they “support the timber industry” and suggested that tens of thousands of jobs are at risk if native logging ends in 2030, as planned (Gaz 13/10).

There are actually about 900 employees at the Japanese-owned Australian Paper mill in Maryvale and 170 at the ASH sawlog mill in Heyfield.

The number of logging contractors plus employees of the small private mills totals hundreds, not thousands. Of course there are carpenters and cabinet makers who also rely on sawlog timber.

To appreciate the problems facing the timber industry, it is important to understand that the state is contracted to supply timber to Australian Paper until 2030. The state also invested $60 million into the ASH mill in Heyfield; and has not renewed the contracts to supply sawlogs to small mills such as A.G. Brown, in Noojee and Drouin, beyond 2021.

The coupe plan for the Boys Shelter coupe at the gateway to Noojee, which is currently being clearfelled, illustrates the structural problem. It reveals less than a quarter of the timber will go to sawmills to be turned into furniture etc, and about three quarters will go to Maryvale to be turned into paper.

The need for the state to meet contractual obligations to Australian Paper and the investment by the state in the ASH mill has lead to the over-cutting of our forests and a dwindling supply of sawlog quality timber to non-government mills. In managing the harvesting of our native forests, VicForests (VF) has repeatedly failed in its attempts to achieve world standard accreditation that its logging practices are sustainable.

After a 12 day trial the Federal Court found VF guilty of illegal and unsustainable logging; and that was likely to continue into the future. To suggest VF-felled timber is more sustainable than imported timber with FSC accreditation is wrong.

The problem with the native timber industry is with the state-owned VF and the state's contracts with Australian Paper and ASH which is half-owned by the state. Coalition and Labor governments have created this mess; and a complete overhaul is needed if there's to be any viable sawlog industry with smaller mills like A.G Brown's surviving to 2030, let alone beyond. Those who purport to “support the timber industry" must support an overhaul.

Gaye Trevan, Noojee