Media Release

Peter Gutwein MP
Shadow Minister for Forestry

Wednesday 10th August, 2011

Forestry Tasmania confirms disastrous Forest Agreement means wood supply cannot be met

In an internal memo*, Forestry Tasmania has confirmed that as a result of the disastrous forestry deal, which locks up another 430,000 hectares of forest, it cannot source enough wood to fulfill existing wood supply contracts.

This directly contradicts the unsubstantiated claims of Resources Minister Bryan Green that wood supply is guaranteed under the deal.

The fact is, because of Labor’s weak pandering to the Greens, there is now simply not enough working forest left in Tasmania to source the required timber.

In the memo, Bob Gordon says “…we have provided advice to government that we will require access to 80 coupes in that area [the 430,000 hectares] before Christmas to meet our contractual obligations, particularly for peeler billets.”

Under the last minute changes to the deal at the behest of the Greens, access to that 430,000 hectares is now expressly prohibited. The deal is perfectly clear. In clause 26 it states “…the Tasmanian Government will ensure that the 430,000 hectares of state forests identified (by the ENGOs) is not accessed”. It doesn’t get much clearer than that.

Mr Gordon continues that: “In short, we have consistently advised stakeholders that we could not afford to reserve more than an additional 300,000 hectares if we were expected to provide 265,00 cubic metres of peeler billets and 155,00 cubic metres of sawlogs.”

This is yet further evidence that the deal will be a disaster for Tasmania, which will cost thousands of jobs and destroy our forest industry.

* Bob Gordon’s internal memo

Colleagues,
Over the weekend, the Prime Minister and the Premier signed the Tasmanian Forests Intergovernmental Agreement. We are in the process of working through in a quite clinical manner the implications of the Agreement for FT and our capacity to supply customers.
The Agreement proposes to reserve a further 430,000 hectares of State forests. Today, we have 13 contractors working in coupes within that 430,000 hectares and we have provided advice to government that we will require access to 80 coupes in that area before Christmas to meet our contractual obligations, particularly for peeler billets.
In short, we have consistently advised stakeholders that we could not afford to reserve more than an additional 300,000 hectares if we were expected to provide 265,00 cubic metres of peeler billets and 155,00 cubic metres of sawlogs.
Over the next few days, we will be taking a hard look at the Agreement and what it means for us, including our legal obligations.
I will keep you informed as we move through the process. The Intergovernmental Agreement can be found on the intranet.

Bob Gordon
Managing Director