The Australian Forest Products Association has welcomed new Forest and Wood Products Australia board directors – Matt Crapp, Dr Michelle Freeman and Cameron McDonald and thanks outgoing directors – Stephen Dadd, Nick Roberts and Yvonne Pengilly for their service and commitment to our

Five new Hall of Fame Inductees, three Industry Champions and two Icons of forest contracting were celebrated at the Australian Forest Contracting Association Gala Dinner and Industry Excellence Awards on 14 November. Source: Timberbiz One hundred and twenty people gathered at the eve

Interesting times. Trump’s in, and resoundingly with the senate, electoral college and populist votes. It looks like Elon is going to take the knife to as many government jobs as he can, tariffs will skyrocket, and democrats are top of the list in googling ‘how to move to New Zealand’

WA’s forest industries have released a document outlining steps to make WA self-reliant in timber production. The document, 5 Key Industry Asks, has been prepared by the Forest Industries Federation WA (FIFWA) in the lead up to the 2025 State Election. Source: Timberbiz According to F

Australia’s forestry sector will be represented at the United Nations’ 29th Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan to promote the important role our forestry and forest products sector is already playing, as well as its further potential to help Australia

New Zealand’s Forest Industry Safety Council (FISC) on behalf of the industry has made an online submission that the Forest Industry Contractors Association (FICA) supports. This is a copy of the submission. In 2013, forestry’s safety performance was so bad that we were killing people

The Victorian Forest Products Association (VFPA) has warned the outlook for the fire season in Victoria, particularly in western Victoria, is looking particularly dire, with record low rainfall and low soil moisture readings creating ideal conditions for bushfires. Source: Timberbiz “

Sustainable Timber Tasmania and the Tasmanian Government have defended the native timber industry in the wake of rallies at the weekend calling for an end to the industry. Source: Timberbiz The rallies, organised by the Bob Brown Foundation, were held in Hobart as well as Sydney, Bris

The Andrews-Allan-D’Ambrosio government claims to be champions of women’s rights and environmental justice. Yet, in their reckless decision to shut down Victoria’s sustainable native timber industry, they are directly contributing to a devastating and perverse outcome –acc

Around 300 scientists, researchers, forestry professionals and foresters have gathered for Forestry Australia’s National Symposium being held in Ballarat this week. The key theme for the Symposium is healthy and resilient forests for our future. Source: Timberbiz Acting Forestry Austr

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) has today released Australia’s State of the Forests Report: Synthesis 2023. Source: Timberbiz ABARES Executive Director, Dr Jared Greenville, said the five-yearly report covered all areas of Australia’s

It’s always interesting witnessing the aftermath of a disaster when the academics, boffins, and other experts come out of the woodwork to impart their impressive wisdom on us all with great pride. The media, politicians, and the public then jump on comments made by this group and take

The ABARES National Wood Processing Survey 2021–22 shows that in 2021-22 there were a total of 252 mills operating. This is a fall of 47 mills since 2016-17, continuing a downward trend in the number of sawmills operating over the past 30 years. Source: Timberbiz ABARES Executive Dire

The threat to Tasmania’s renewable regrowing forestry sector is at risk once again with Labor and the Greens set to jump back into bed with each other. Source: Timberbiz Reports that a secret deal has been made with the Greens in a bid to keep Labor in power will decimate the jobs of

Rare it is to have a definitive historical date and place for the discovery of a natural renewable resource that is the foundation of an industry which prospers to the present day. Source: Dr Gary Bacon AM. Australian Rural & Regional News Tuesday 21 September 1824 is that note-wo

Two research projects supported by Growers Research Advisory Committee members have been selected among eight projects to receive funding through Australian Forest and Wood Innovations’ inaugural $5 million National Open Call for research. Source: Timberbiz Funded through cash and in-

The Federal Government has opened applications for the third round of the $74 million Support Plantation Establishment program. Farm foresters, First Nations businesses and the forestry industry are among those who will benefit from funding to support more plantation forests in Austra

After what has seemed like an eternity of headwinds, it looks as though we finally have some positive signs from China with October A grade wharf gate prices boosting through the NZ$120/m3 glass ceiling for the first time in seven months. Offers depend on which port you are supplying

Australia and New Zealand have welcomed the European Commission’s decision last week to delay implementation of a law banning the import of commodities linked to deforestation by a year. Source: Timberbiz The law had been hailed as a landmark in the fight against climate change,

Forestry NOW 2024 – Australian Forest and Timber’s annual State of the Industry Review which includes observations from our political leaders, national industry leaders and more – is now live at https://forestrynow.com.au/ And it’s worth taking the time to check out

The Hyne Group has acquired Pinetec, a pallet and packaging business based in Perth, Western Australia. This is the Hyne Group’s first manufacturing presence in the West in its 142-year history. Source: Timberbiz Earlier this year, the Hyne Group announced its expansion into pallet ma

A government appointed panel is exploring the idea of ending logging in NSW native forests within four years. The government is under mounting pressure over the impact of its own logging business on nature. Source: Australian Associated Press The historically divisive issue of taking

The Victorian State Government’s flawed forestry transition scheme is failing to provide promised funding to help businesses transition into plantation timber jobs, according to the Nationals’ Member for Eastern Victoria Region, Melina Bath who has called for immediate state gov

Trans-Tasman forestry and sawmilling company OneFortyOne has released its Annual Review for 2024 highlighting progress, resilience and continuous investment, underscoring the company’s commitment to sustainable practices and operational excellence. Source: Timberbiz “Since 2019, OneFo

Parkside Timber is planning to build a high-impact timber and laminating facility in Wondai, Queensland, contributing to the local timber industry and economy. Sources: Industry Update, Timberbiz It is projected to process up to 6000 tonnes of timber annually once it reaches maximum c

Bombala based timber milling company Dongwha Australia has welcomed a NSW Government Forestry Industry Action Plan designed to outline the path the State will take to ensure a sustainable timber industry that aligns with the Government’s key environmental priorities. Source: Kar

Nationals’ Member for Gippsland East, Tim Bull, has asked the Minister for Environment, Steve Dimopoulos, to specify the locations of the job losses within the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) in East Gippsland. Source: Timberbiz The question in Parliament

Engineered Wood Products Association of Australasia’s new mezzanine office and boardroom was formally opened by EWPAA Chair Stuart Toakley last week enthusiastically attended by industry and supply chain representatives. Source: Timberbiz The new office is open and welcoming, sh

Forestry Australia has welcomed the publication of an academic paper looking at the issue of active management of forests. The paper, Active management: a definition and considerations for implementation in forests of temperate Australia (Bennett et al. 2024) has been published in For

The appointment of an expert panel to lead consultation on a Forestry Industry Action Plan, which will outline the path NSW will take to ensure a sustainable timber industry that aligns with the government’s key environmental priorities has been warmly welcomed by the State’s ti

Following ongoing vocal bipartisan support for forestry in the Tasmanian State Parliament, the Tasmanian Forest Products Association (TFPA) has welcomed similar support from the two major parties in our nation’s capital this week. Source: Timberbiz TFPA Chief Executive, Nick Steel, sa

The Australian Forest Products Association has welcomed the Federal Government’s consultation process on new draft rules that complement the national illegal logging reforms, to allow for industry feedback. Source: Timberbiz The AFPA supports the strengthening of illegal logging laws

The Green Triangle’s hardwood plantation sector is proving it could have the solution to meeting Australia’s future structural timber needs. Source: Timberbiz Celebrating National Forestry Day yesterday, hardwood plantation companies Australian Bluegum Plantations, Midway Limited, and

WA’s Forest Products Commission (FPC) manages approximately 70,000 hectares of softwood plantations in the South West of Western Australia on behalf of the State Government. The plantation estate supports a particle board plant, sawmill, and laminated veneer lumber (LVL) plant. Source

The world’s largest hybrid building currently under construction in Sydney will use European-sourced cross-laminated timber and glulam beams for its 24 timber levels. Source: Timberbiz Speaking at this week’s Timber Construct 2024 conference in Melbourne Tim Allen, from structur

A major new firefighting water resource has been established in a Wattle Range blackspot in South Australia through the sophisticated redesign of the local drainage network. Source: Timberbiz Hardwood plantation company ABP (Australian Bluegum Plantations), in partnership with the CFS

The timber industry has stepped up its fight against the phase-out of wooden power poles across NSW, demanding proof that the manufactured ones won’t melt in bushfires. Source: AAP The NSW branch of the Australian Forest Products Association has launched a new website urging peo

A new environmental organisation focussed on restoring degraded forests in partnership with Traditional Owners has been established, headed up by former VicForests CEO Monique Dawson. Source: Timberbiz Ms Dawson said the Healthy Forests Foundation, which is currently in “start-up mode

Environmentalist Bob Brown has been found guilty of trespassing during a protest against logging near Snow Hill, Tasmania. Source: Pulse Tasmania, The Mercury Brown, 79, along with Karen Weldrick, 64 and Kristy Alger, 42, appeared in the Hobart Magistrates Court on Monday over the inc

Crown Research Institute Scion is hosting ForestSAT 2024, a prestigious international conference on the application of remote sensing technologies for forest monitoring and modelling. A global forestry event is attracting experts from NASA and remote sensing specialists from nearly 30

FORESTRY NOW 2024 is a State of the Industry Review which includes observations from our political leaders, industry analysts, key investors, processors, national industry leaders, forest managers and more. We believe the time is again right to take a snapshot of where we are and wher

Forestry Australia is leading an Australian initiative to expand Australia’s carbon credits across all native forest tenures, including State forests, private native forests, forests managed by Traditional Owners, national parks and conservation reserves. Source: Timberbiz The Forestr

The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) has welcomed the new Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry the Hon Julie Collins, who it says brings a wealth of knowledge to the role having held the portfolios in Opposition, as well as new Assistant Minister the Hon Antho

Australia’s world leading sustainable forestry practices, and an expanded innovation agenda will only become more important locally and globally as a new United Nations (UN) report highlights the need for innovative solutions on the world forest front, according to Australian Forest P

The silent and devastating toll of people stealing wood from Victoria’s forests and parks has been revealed as public land authorities announce a crackdown on escalating illegal firewood take and habitat destruction threatening the survival of native wildlife and Aboriginal cultural h

Four fire specialists from Forestry Corporation will serve as part of a New South Wales deployment of firefighters assisting authorities in Canada to tackle the country’s wildfires. Source: Timberbiz A contingent of 31 incident management, aviation and heavy machinery specialists will

The Green Triangle pellet mill will go ahead with Grant District Council approving the request to sell Hutchinson Road. Elected members opted to approve Mount Gambier Biomass – formerly Altus Renewables – request to acquire Hutchinson Road for $28,183. Source: Timberbiz, The Border Wa

The outcomes report for the fifth review of the Tasmanian Regional Forestry Agreement (RFA) has been released. The report marks the first stage in the independent review process, which will now progress to stakeholder consultation. Source: Timberbiz Interested individuals are encourag

A blue gum plantation operator has been found to have undertaken illegal clearing in the Scott River area equivalent to nine Optus stadiums in size. Source: Augusta-Margaret River Times The matter was decided by a magistrate late last month after the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River su

Gippsland Logging and Earthmoving has made the successful transition into plantation timber haulage through a grant provided by the Victorian Government’s Timber Innovation Fund (VTIF). Source: Timberbiz The Traralgon-based business took the initiative last year to transition to plant

After an extensive and complex negotiation, the Australian Forest Contractors Association has welcomed the finalisation and signing of new Forest and Fire Services Agreements between contracting businesses and the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action. Source:

The long-awaited concept design for Hobart’s proposed multi-purpose stadium at Macquarie Point reveals it will be “the largest timber roofed stadium in the world”. Source: Hobart Mercury The release of the design comes more than two years after former Liberal Premier Peter Gutwein ann

With the formal closure of VicForests on Sunday (30 June) symbolising the final destruction of Victoria’s native forest industry, thoughts turn to an essay by a revered Australian forester, Dr Alf Leslie: Stupidity Nearly Always Wins. Source: Phillip Hopkins, Latrobe Valley Express Is

  Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA) is set to spearhead an initiative highlighting the advantages of timber framing in construction, promising a significant boost to its promotion efforts. Source: Timberbiz First established in the Australian Forest Products Association’s

Rob de Fégely, co-founder and director of Margules Groome, retired on 30 June 2024. Source: Timberbiz Mr de Fégely’s career in consulting began in the 1980s when he joined Ray Margules, a pioneer in forestry consulting in Australia. Over the past four decades he undertook a countless

The NSW Nationals are calling on the State Government to reverse a decision to replace hardwood power poles with composite poles. The composite poles are to be made from a fibreglass and resin composite with a UV coating for fire resilience. Source: Timberbiz It is anticipated that mo

  Extreme bushfires have more than doubled in frequency and intensity over the past two decades, according to a global study from the University of Tasmania. Source: Timberbiz Published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, the research reveals that six of the past seven y

Pentarch Forestry’s pallet mill in Dandenong will cease operating next month due to a shortage of hardwood timber so 700,000 Australian-made hardwood pallets will be taken out of circulation thanks to a Victorian Government decision. Source: Timberbiz The mill, which had been operatin

Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester says he is committed to continuing to expose the hypocrisy of bans on the native hardwood timber industry after visiting Australian Sustainable Hardwoods (ASH) in Heyfield. Source: Timberbiz Mr Chester said ASH was ‘continuing to make an out

An online letter is being circulated by the Australian Forest Contractors Association (AFCA) aimed at sending a message to NSW MPs in support of native timber harvesting. Source: Timberbiz It follows the standing down without notice of 15 operations in NSW on May 27 as a result of rul

Timber Queensland is warning of a looming building materials crisis due to a lack of policy and budget measures for increasing future timber supply to help meet the state’s rising housing demand. Source: Timberbiz “While we support the critical need to accelerate housing and building

VicForests has issued an alert over the serious risks and hazards from threatening and aggressive driving targeting log trucks and other forestry workers. Source: Timberbiz The alert follows reports of anti-logging activists allegedly tailgating a 63-tonne logging truck from the Womba

  About 400 Victorians a day have been signing a petition calling on the Victorian Government to halt converting another 486,412ha of state forests into national parks, locking out hunters, firewood collectors, prospectors, horse and trail-bike riders, according to The Weekly Tim

The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) has welcomed Victorian Forest Products Association (VFPA) CEO, Andrew White to the role ahead of his commencement in late August 2024, AFPA Chief Executive Officer, Diana Hallam said. Source: Timberbiz “On behalf of AFPA and the broade

Australia’s forest industry can now celebrate the removal of the ‘water rule’ that for years has deterred new timber plantings participating in the Emissions Reduction Fund. Source: Timberbiz As of 1 June 2024, the water rule that had added conditions that plantation forestry needed t

The NSW Government has announced a $13 million forestry funding package to provide much needed protection of critical timber supplies in the Murray region in the lead up to the next bushfire season. Source: Timberbiz This package will build a better resilience into this important regi

The Victorian state government’s decision to ban native forestry has been felt across the timber and manufacturing industry. Hundreds of timber workers lost their jobs and many Victorian mills have shut. As the effect flows through the supply chain, building material manufacturers are

Forestry Corporation NSW has stood down 15 operations – 11 operations in the north of the state and four in the south, following a NSW Environment Protection Authority order which requires a 25-metre logging exclusion zone around any tree in which a Greater Glider is spotted. Source:

On Thursday 23 May, the ABC aired a segment on Mornings with Debbie Rybicki that VicForests says contained false and misleading claims of damage to the ecosystem, not conducting surveys, and failing to adequately regenerate coupes. Source: Timberbiz VicForests was not approached to pr

Forestry Corporation has reached an important milestone to explore the potential for windfarms within public pine plantations to contribute to the NSW transition to renewable energy. Source: Timberbiz Chief Executive Officer Anshul Chaudhary has announced that Neoen, Iberdrola Austral

Gippsland forestry workers displaced by the Labor government’s forced closure of the native timber industry have had their compensation payments frozen. Source: Timberbiz The Allan Government agreed to pay native timber worker and Heyfield resident Jeff Coster due compensation in Febr

In the heart of Paris, the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) Forest Forum 2024 convened the 56 PEFC national governing bodies to confront the pressing challenges of climate change in forest management. Source: Timberbiz Against the backdrop of a warming world,

In today’s world, where environmental conservation is at the forefront of global concerns, ensuring the responsible management of our forests is paramount. One crucial tool in achieving this goal is the PEFC (Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) certification. This cer

Next year’s Green Triangle Timber Industry Awards will mark the culmination of newly implemented changes informed by the valuable feedback from sponsors, attendees, and award nominators from the previous events. Source: Timberbiz As part of the changes the nomination process wil

Ex-native timber workers are finding new work and opportunities in an expanding Gippsland nursery following a $775,000 grant from the Allan Labor Government’s Forestry Transition Fund. Source: Timberbiz Nationwide Trees at Piedmont in West Gippsland, will use the grant to construct a

I am writing to make some comment on the opinion piece published in the Daily Timber News on 5 May 2024. After reading the first two paragraphs, I thought I was reading an opinion piece from one of The Age newspaper’s “environmental” reporters, so stopped reading and closed the articl

Protesters have escalated their attacks on Victoria’s forestry industry as they move to target both private native forestry and plantations, according to Forest and Wood Communities Australia. Source: Timberbiz FWCA executive officer Michael Harrington said protestors, emboldened by t

Miners and small prospectors fear that the state government’s study into the future of Gippsland’s forests could lock up swathes of forest and shackle mining as a driver of local economic growth and jobs. Source: Philip Hopkins, Latrobe Valley Express Both the Minerals Council of Aust

To say that the money spent on the Green Triangle’s network of smoke detection cameras was well spent is an understatement. That at least 33 fire events were averted in the most recent fire season is nothing short of amazing. The system also positively identified 24 planned fuel

Recent claims by activists, media, industry advocates and politicians about the existence or emergence of ‘forest wars’ is completely misleading and disrespectful, according to a veteran forester and conservationist, Rob de Fégely. Source: Latrobe Valley Express Mr de Fégely, a Member

WA’s Cook Government’s Forest Management Plan 2024-2033 (FMP), which supports the decision to bring commercial logging of native forests to an end, will be bolstered with a $67.2 million investment over the next four years. Source: Timberbiz “This funding will support that

Monday’s Earth Day provided a chance to reflect on why one of our most climate-smart materials is wood – specifically, engineered mass timber. While other bio-sourced materials also exist, timber is growing in forests as we speak with volumes making it feasible for commercial use in c

The High Court of Australia has rejected an appeal by environmental activist group Blue Derby Wild to halt logging in a forest near Derby in the Tasmania’s north-east. Source: Timberbiz Chief Justice Stephen Gageler ruled that the group had no special interest in the case beyond

A former minister in the Hodgman and Gutwein governments, Sarah Courtney, has been named the independent chair of the Tasmanian Forest Products Association (TFPA). Source: Timberbiz After a successful three-year tenure from Inaugural Chair Bryan Hayes, Ms Courtney says she is eager to

The Forest Wars (author David Lindenmayer) purports to portray the ‘ugly truth’ about what happens in wood production forests – specifically Victoria’s tall wet forests where the author has concentrated much of his research. Given that wood production in Victoria has now ceased – albe

Pentarch executive director Steve Dadd has rejected claims he favours an orderly transition away from native forest logging in New South Wales. Source: Timberbiz Mr Dadd, who is also Australian Forest Products Association Chairman, issued a statement yesterday clarifying statements at

Last week Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff signed an agreement with three Jacqui Lambie Network MPs, Miriam Beswick (Braddon), Andrew Jenner (Lyons), and Rebekah Pentland (Bass) which indicates that there will be stability for the timber industry. Source: Timberbiz However, support i

Stability seems to have been delivered for the timber industry in Tasmania following a deal struck between the minority Rockliff Government and the three newly elected members of the Jacqui Lambie Network. The three new members are Miriam Beswick (Braddon), Andrew Jenner (Lyons), and

Funding to support disaster resilience in the primary industries has been highlighted at a South Australian Forest Products Association disaster resilience summit in Mt Gambier. Source: Timberbiz A new pilot project led by the Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) and P

For more than 20 years, Sustainable Timber Tasmania’s Giant Tree Policy has been in place to protect live giant trees in Tasmania’s public production forests. Source: Timberbiz Sustainable Timber Tasmania actively searches for live giant trees in areas of forest planned for harvest. A

The expansion of one of the Clarence Valley’s largest timber factories, Big River Group, is a huge boost to the local economy and sets the bar high in supplying the sustainable manufacturing of high-quality specialist technical timber products across New South Wales. Source: Timberbiz

The Coalition, the Australian Greens and key Senate crossbenchers have stood up for Australian plantation forestry, fixing laws that would have hampered investment in much needed new forestry plantings, Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA), Dian

The Hyne Group is moving into pallet manufacturing following the acquisition of Melbourne-based pallet and packaging manufacturer Rodpak. Source: Timberbiz This announcement comes just over two years since the Hyne Group partnership with UK based company, James Jones and Sons Ltd, and

Innovation and safety are the key drivers behind OneFortyOne’s $8 million nursery redevelopment, with a new state-of-the-art undercover handling system leading a number of major upgrades for the Glencoe facility. Source: Timberbiz The two automated handling lines, designed in Europe a

Tasmania goes to the polls tomorrow in what is shaping as a vital election for the State’s timber industry. In what can only be seen as good news, neither the Government nor Labor want to halt timber harvesting for Tasmania’s native forests. In a nutshell, the Government has vow

Following the recent pledge by the Australian Government and 16 other nations during COP28 in Dubai to enhance timber usage in construction, the Forest Stewardship Council says attention has now been drawn to the significant environmental benefits of timber. Source: Timberbiz The FSC

The Forest Stewardship Council ANZ has begun a revision of the FSC National Forest Stewardship Standard of Australia following the approval granted by FSC International in January this year. Source: Timberbiz “While the 2018 NFSS has performed well, it is now booked in for a scheduled

  VicForests will be gone by 30 June. It really doesn’t come as any surprise. The writing was on the wall, and writ large the moment the Victorian Government announced it would be shutting down the native timber industry by 2030. It brought that death forward when it announ

The future of sustainable forestry has received a significant boost yesterday with the official launch of the Albanese Government’s $100 million Australian Forest and Wood Innovations (AFWI) program. Source: Timberbiz AFWI is a collaboration between the Albanese Government and the Uni

As Tasmanians prepare to cast their votes in the upcoming elections, the significance of timber forestry looms large on the political landscape, with candidates and parties grappling to articulate its pivotal role. Forestry has long been the economic backbone of Tasmania, contributing

Opal has told workers it plans to cut 220 jobs across Australia and New Zealand businesses. Source: Timberbiz It is understood 45 jobs, mainly office staff, will go at the company’s Maryvale plant in the LaTrobe Valley. Opal, one of the Australia’s largest paper and packag

A re-elected Liberal Government in Tasmania would extend all existing native wood supply contracts for 14 Tasmanian sawmillers beyond the current 2027 expiry date, to 2040. Source: Timberbiz Premier Jeremy Rockliff said that with State Labor Governments across the country ending nativ

At a time when environmental consciousness has become paramount, industries are continuously seeking innovative ways to minimize their ecological footprint. Timberlink, a leading player in the timber industry, has taken a bold step forward with NeXTimber, a revolutionary product that

Key Tasmanian Forest industry figures are pushing a radical proposal to allow logging of some of the state’s contentious forests in return for most being protected under Indigenous custodianship. Source: The Australian The concept discussed last month in behind-the-scenes talks involv

The board for the establishment and management of the $100 million Australian Forest and Wood Innovations (AFWI) research institute has been appointed. Source: Timberbiz To be chaired by former Forestry Australia president Bob Gordon, the board will comprise Diana Gibbs, Christine Bri

The news that US hardwood timber exports to Australia increased by 22% in 2023 with nearly 9000 cubic metres of red oak coming into the country should not come as a surprise to anyone. The end to native timber harvesting in Victoria and Western Australia has certainly had a massive fl

Responsible Wood Sustainability Manager, Matt de Jongh, recently visited Brisbane to strengthen partnerships and advocate for sustainable practices in the timber industry. Source: Timberbiz His agenda included meetings with key industry players and participation in the Sustainable Ind

Western Victoria’s new plantation hardwood strategic alliance, GT Hardwood, is actively educating the community on its plans to invest in new plantation trees to meet the world’s growing consumption for fibre-based products and mitigate the continued decline in resource. Source: Timbe

The timber industry in Australia plays a significant role in the nation’s economy, providing employment opportunities and contributing to various sectors such as construction, manufacturing, and forestry. Within this industry, apprenticeships hold particular importance, serving

  Effective collaboration across the timber industry and learning the lessons from past fire salvage efforts have been highlighted as key factors underpinning the success of the record salvage program in the Tumut and Tumbarumba regions following the Black Summer fires in a repor

The second round of grants for the $74 million Support Plantation Establishment Program is now open for applications. Source: Timberbiz Farm foresters, First Nations businesses and the forestry industry are among those who will benefit from funding to support more new plantation fores

The departure of Joel Fitzgibbon from the Australian Forests Products Association this week will leave a huge hole in the field of forestry advocacy. Mr Fitzgibbon served as Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in 2013 and was the co-chair of the Federal Parliament’s Frien

Metcash’s move to buy three businesses for a combined $560 million is a long-term play aimed at bolstering the ASX-listed company’s operations across food distribution and hardware, chief executive Doug Jones said. Sources: Brisbane Times, Timberbiz The operator of retailers including

Australia has seen a steady build-up of timber in timber yards across the country because the country is not making progress towards those housing targets, according to Australian Forest Products ­Association NSW chief executive James Jooste. Source: Timberbiz Slow release of land, sl

Pressure is piling up for the Federal Government to cut the nearly $10m funding of the Environmental Defenders Office. The Federal Opposition has been joined by Australian Energy Producers and the Australian Forest Products Association in calling for action against the EDO. The Northe

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has committed to stripping the Environmental Defenders Office of all Commonwealth funding should he win the next election. The EDO, which again began receiving money from Labor last year after a 10-year funding drought initiated by the Abbott government,

Private Forests Tasmania has appointed a new chair and two directors to the board. The new chair is Jim Wilson who replaces Mr Evan Rolley. Source: Timberbiz Bob Rutherford has been appointed as a new director for three years, coming onto the board with extensive expertise in forestry

A concerning trend observed in Labor-led state governments in Australia – the locking up of productive state forests – raises questions about the relationships between bureaucrats, inner-city Labor MPs and the activist class and the poor understanding they have of rural communities, a

The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) has provided feedback on the Government amendments to the Treasury Laws Amendment (Making Multinationals Pay Their Fair Share – Integrity and Transparency) Bill 2023 (Bill). AFPA has said that plantation forestry was never the intended

It’s time Federal Government funding of the Environmental Defenders Office was turned off. Just last week it lost the case brought by the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) against the Commonwealth of Australia and the State of NSW with its lawyers arguing that the RFA should not have

Western Victoria’s hardwood plantation sector has engaged respected regional advocate and communications specialist Liz McKinnon to act as its shared external affairs manager to coordinate communication with government and community stakeholders. Source: Timberbiz Global forest compan

  Several Gippsland hardwood timber processors have vowed to continue operating despite being barred from access to the region’s native forest. Source: Philip Hopkins LaTrobe Valley Express The chief executive of the Victorian Forest Products Association, Deb Kerr, said the start

Another court case was decided this week that threatened to crush the forestry industry, the timber industry and a raft of other industries that rely on its viability but this one came out in favour of the industry and whether the environmentalists understand it, it has come out in th

Today a Federal Court judgement may determine the fate of native timber harvesting in New South Wales. This sector deeply ingrained in regional, rural and remote NSW has for generations served as a sustainable cornerstone for communities, families and businesses. Source: Timberbiz The

Now that Victoria’s native logging has been shut down the consequences will be felt even more acutely, though many sawmills and harvesting operations were shut down last year. This is the end of an era. Source: Timberbiz Timber Towns Victoria has acknowledged the loss of regenerative

It would be too easy to dwell on what the end of 2023 means to the timber industry in this country. The shutdown at the end of next week of the native timber industry in WA and Victoria has been well recorded. So have the implications, the costs – financial, environmental and emotiona

A leading Australian forestry expert has resigned from Bendigo Bank over its policy not to support the harvesting of native forest. Source: Timberbiz Rob de Fegely, who has had many senior roles in his 40-year career in forestry, has resigned from the board of his local Community Bank

Commercial logging in native forests will come to an end with the Cook Government’s Forest Management Plan 2024-2033 setting out the latest framework for managing more than 2.5 million hectares of native forest throughout Western Australia’s south-west. Source: Timberbiz &

Two problems have been solved, or partly solved, in the Green Triangle. The first is a guarantee of $15 million to boost reliable mobile telephone network throughout the Limestone Coast, and the second is the introduction of AI detection of fire outbreaks. It is clearly ridiculous tha

With Victoria’s native timber industry closure a mere two weeks away, The Nationals have held a forum in Heyfield to listen to timber communities and industry. Source: Timberbiz The forum was attended by harvest and haulage operators, industry representatives, forestry scientists, Lea

Australia will take a major step towards preventing the trade of illegally logged wood, with work to expand the world’s largest timber database following the latest Forestry Ministers’ meeting. Source: Timberbiz As a part of the Albanese Government’s Improving Australia’s illega

A commitment at COP28 by the Federal Government, and 16 other countries, to increase the use of timber in the built environment by 2030 is, on face value, a very good result. Timber, as has been pointed out again and again, from sustainably managed forests provides climate solutions w

The Nationals have slammed the State Government in Victoria for offering native timber workers “appalling and inadequate compensation payouts” at the industry’s death knell. Source: Timberbiz Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Public Land Use and Member for Eastern Victoria Region, Me

The release of support packages for the forest contracting businesses being forced to exit the industry has shown that the Victorian Government has again failed to walk the talk, according to the Australian Forest Contractors Association. Source: Timberbiz AFCA General Manager Tim Les

Four weeks. That’s all the native timber industry in Victoria and Western Australia has left. In WA, mills have been closing with alarming regularity. In Victoria it’s no better. Italia d’Antonio from North East Logging in Acheron, not far from Alexandra, about 130km northeast of Melb

The Victorian Government has planted just 0.01% of the 30 million trees promised to assist timber workers – six years on from the announcement. Just 4000 of a promised 30 million trees have been planted under the Victorian Government’s Gippsland Plantation Investment Program, which wa

The Australian Forest Products Association will represent the interests of Australia’s forestry and forest products to fight climate change over coming weeks as the world meets in Dubai for the UAE for COP28 in the continued pursuit to find effective climate solutions. Source: Timberb

Australia’s timber industry is, in the most past, a pretty resilient industry. Regardless of what gets thrown at it – flood, fire, government interference, protestors – by and large it just knuckles down and gets on with the job at hand. Especially when it comes to bushfires. The indu

Forestry Australia was last night awarded the prestigious Association Turnaround of the Year Award at the Associations Forum Awards Dinner in Sydney. Source: Timberbiz Forestry Australia CEO Jacquie Martin said the national recognition was a testament to members, staff, volunteers and

Forestry Corporation of NSW has apologised for the accidental removal of 17 trees from an area that should have been set aside for protection in Coopernook State Forest during a forestry operation two years ago in 2021 and welcomes the suite of projects it will deliver as part of the

State Governments across the nation are planning to solve the housing crisis by, obviously, building low cost affordable housing. And lots of them. In Queensland $23 million has been poured into the Immediate Housing Response for Families plan to provide emergency accommodation for fa

The Victorian Government has suddenly back flipped on its directive to the Victorian building industry to cease designing and constructing homes with native hardwood timber. Source: Timberbiz In its previous communique to the HIA on 30 October, the Government “strongly recommended” bu

The South Australian State Government has appointed a Transitional Board for the Forestry Centre of Excellence at Mount Gambier, with Professor Rob Lewis named as the independent chair. Source: Timberbiz The board comprises: Odette Lubbe – Managing Director of Green Triangle Forest Pr

So, the Victorian Government now “strongly recommends” builders cease using native hardwood varieties in flooring, staircases, beams, doors, windows, architectural features, decking and cladding. That means the government in Victoria doesn’t just to stop one industry from harvesting n

The Australian Forest Products Association has welcomed the Federal Government’s Agriculture, Land and Emissions Discussion Paper which highlights the important role that sustainable forestry can and is already playing in helping Australia meet its net zero emissions targets. Source:

A Great Koala National Park on the New South Wales’ Mid North Coast is a step closer, with the establishment of three advisory panels to provide input into the creation of the park. Source: Timberbiz NSW Premier Chris Minns, Minister for the Environment Penny Sharpe and Minister for A

It’s the awards season, it seems, with timber in many facets being celebrated across Australia and in New Zealand as well. The “season” started with September’s Tasmanian Timber Awards where Forico’s Bryan Hayes was presented with the Outstanding Contribution to the Tasmanian Timber I

Two new reports have been released by the Tasmania Forestry Hub outlining opportunities to support silvicultural interventions that could deliver additional saw log production in the next 10 years. Source: Timberbiz Australia faces an ongoing shortage of structural grade timber for us

The Green Triangle Timber Industry Awards on Friday night honoured leading forestry researcher Dr Jim O’Hehir with its Timber Legend Award. Source: Timberbiz Five hundred people packed The Barn outside Mount Gambier for the fourth awards night, this year hosted by TV and radio&#

In a tragic case of insult being heaped upon injury, it has now been revealed that the Government of Victoria is offering just 30 cents in the dollar to harvest and haulage contractors who face unemployment at the end of the year. These are people who 12 months ago were being told by

Key industry leaders and universities have signed partnerships this week for the launch of mass timber software, CLT Toolbox. Source: Timberbiz Timber leads NeXTimber by Timberlink, XLam, Cusp and ASH, alongside Monash University and the ARC Advance Timber Hub administer by the Univer

This year AKD has 29 new apprenticeship positions being offered nationally, covering fitter and turners, fabricators, electricians, saw technicians and wood machinists. Source: Tumut and Adelong Times These positions are split across their sites, in Colac (Victoria), Caboolture (Queen

It suddenly becomes very obvious, if it wasn’t already, that Forestry Australia boasts some of the heaviest hitters in forestry in this country. For those who may still be in the dark about this organisation, Forestry Australia is an independent professional association of more than 1

The largest ever cohort of forestry experts have been awarded prestigious Forestry Australia Fellow status at a special ceremony at the 2023 ANZIF conference on the Gold Coast. Source: Timberbiz Forestry Australia CEO Jacquie Martin said the Merit Awards Committee was thrilled with th

Timber harvesting is not a concern of Gippsland Indigenous groups, who overwhelmingly want to be involved in direct management of forests before, during and after bushfires, the RFA Major Event Review of the 2019/20 bushfires found. Source: Philip Hopkins, LaTrobe Valley Express The j

In November 2021 former Australian Forest Products Association CEO Ross Hampton wrote that what was then the latest five yearly review by ABARES of Australia’s national plantation estate was more than sobering reading. It was, Mr Hampton said, like the script of a horror film. “The bu

Australia’s plantation estate is still on a worrying downward trajectory, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Agricultural Economics figures. Australia’s total plantation area contracted to 1.716 million hectares in 2021-22 – a reduction of more than 28,000 hectares.  Source:

Australia’s top bushfire scientist, University of Melbourne Associate Professor Kevin Tolhurst has died of a heart attack. Source: Weekly Times The news was confirmed by the Forests Commission Retired Personnel Association, which was informed of Professor Tolhurst’s death by his famil

This week Australia took a major step in increasing our sovereign capability to manufacture engineered timber products while reducing reliance on imports. In August this year Timberlink’s NeXTimber facility at Tarpeena in South Australia’s South East produced its first GLT beam. Timbe

Federal Minister for Forestry Senator Murray Watt has talked up the key role Australia’s sustainable forestry management, including regrowth native forests and plantations, will play addressing climate change, while also marking the importance of sustainable forestry for green constru

Dan Andrews’ departure from the top job in Victoria this week probably deserves some form of reflection. After all, this is the one man who did more damage to Victoria’s timber industry than any storm or bushfire. He is the one man who destroyed the livelihoods of a countless number o

Supreme Court Justice Melinda Richards has issued an interim order halting the salvaging of some of the 600,000 tonnes of fallen trees left lying on the Wombat Forest floor after June 2021 storms. Source: The Weekly Times In issuing the order on Tuesday, Justice Richards stated she di

A $350m development, proposed to be the world’s tallest timber tower, will have to clear a new planning hurdle after the City of South Perth rejected its development application. Source: Wood Central As reported by Business News Australia, the council’s development assessment panel wi

Two things seem certain this coming summer. The first, without doubt, is that it is going to be a very, very hot summer. The Bureau of Meteorology has warned that it is likely this summer will be hotter than average and certainly hotter than the past three years. The second, as night

Mum and dad firewood cutters Kate and Dale Tiley have become the latest victims of an environmental group’s green lawfare. Source: The Weekly Times The Tileys have been told to seek urgent legal advice, as the Wombat Forestcare Group launches a bid to stop them and four other commerci

Twelve highly coveted awards were presented at Friday night’s Tasmanian Timber Awards, hosted by the Tasmanian Forests and Forest Products Network, including a recognition of industry stalwart Bryan Hayes’ outstanding contribution to the sector over more than 50 years. Source: Timberb

Here we go again. Logging has been stopped in parts of the proposed Great Koala National Park on the New South Wales Mid North Coast while the state government determines the impact on koalas and timber industry jobs. The halt, announced on Tuesday, covers 106 koala “hubs”

Tuesday’s announcement by the NSW Government that it will ban harvesting in parts of Northern NSW previously allocated for timber production has sent a chill down the spine of every timber worker in the state, according to the CFMEU’s manufacturing division. Source: Timber

The past three years have been a period of upheaval within the timber industry nationally with bushfires, COVID lockdowns, China, the decision to halt the native timber industry in at least two States and legal challenges to the timber industry as a whole. Source: Timberbiz On top of

The latest Timber Industry Roads Evaluation Study paints an interesting picture of the amount of traffic Victorian roads can expect to see over the next four years. And we are talking about timber freight traffic. Forget all the rest, just timber freight traffic. The report, prepared

Timber Towns Victoria and its member councils have released a Position Paper on the cessation of native forest harvesting in Victoria. The TTV members, who consist of councils right across Victoria where forest industries are recognised as significant contributors to the economy and c

The Rockliff Liberal Government is sticking to its long-term plan for all Tasmanians by supporting the forestry industry which employs thousands of workers across the State. Source: Timberbiz Minister for Resources, Felix Ellis, said it was unfortunate that a continued constant in for

The wheels seem to be falling off the Labor Party’s end of the native logging bus. Take Western Australia first. In September 2021 the then-premier Mark McGowan announced that native forest logging in Western Australia will end at the start of 2024. Foresters said they were blindsided

Victoria’s Ash forests are on the brink of ecosystem collapse following a poor flowering season and repeated fire events, warns the State’s leading forest flowering and seeding expert. Source: Timberbiz The issue highlights concerns raised by Forestry Australia, the seed collection se

Visy has unveiled a major $42.5 million upgrade to its paper recycling and remanufacturing campus in Coolaroo with Premier Daniel Andrews and Federal Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek. Source: Timberbiz The upgrade is part of Visy Executive Chairman Anthony Pratt

The Victorian Government’s decision to boost support for timber workers, sawmill operators and their communities in the wake of the end to the native timber industry is more than welcome. The government may have indeed acted willingly, and the negotiations have obviously been handled

Shadow Forestry Minister Senator Jonno Duniam has called on the Albanese Government to urgently step in to increase federal control of the forestry industry, amid a crisis in the industry. Source: Timberbiz On National Forestry Day, Senator Duniam advocated for strong, immediate actio

AFCA has made some changes to its membership base to incorporate the diverse range of professionals involved in various aspects of the forest industry, including silviculture, planting & spraying, harvesting, haulage, civil works such as roading, growers, managers, mills and proce

Federal Labor’s decision to reject a ban on native forest logging will give the industry good reason to breathe a little easier. The Labor Environment Action Network attempted to force the Federal Government to end native forest harvesting and replace the industry with a nationa

Shadow Environment, Fisheries and Forestry Minister Jonno Duniam fears that the native forestry industry will be sacrificed on the altar of extreme left politics at this weekend’s Federal Labor Conference in Brisbane. Source: Timberbiz During the May 2022 election, then Opposition Lea

The Sorbent Paper Company, owned by Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), will be reducing its workforce by around half at its manufacturing facilities in Box Hill, Melbourne with around 70 job losses expected in its production staff by the end of the year. Employees were advised last week. So

Protests by anti-logging, anti-mining and anti-everything else groups are now getting way out of hand. It’s getting very personal, and very ugly. On the mining front, only last week a group of climate activists from Disrupt Burrup Hub were protesting outside mining company Woods

Timber NSW with its local members in the Clarence Valley have been distributing templates for the past week to local timber businesses, non-timber businesses and residents or employees that live in the region to use as submissions to the Clarence Valley Council which is seeking public

Aggressive, violent and unhygienic attacks have been directed at forestry workers and their families amid rising tensions over the industry’s future. Source: The Maitland Mercury, AAP Environmental and financial concerns, a promised koala sanctuary and the fallout from interstat

Protesting is fine and should be allowed in a truly democratic society. The alternative, the vicious suppression of protests in some countries governed by oppressive regimes, is appalling. But protests must be peaceful, must not endanger life or property, and must not restrict lawful

After a successful campaign in 2022, FWPA’s The Ultimate Renewable 2023 campaign was launched in Canberra Airport on Monday and will go live across Australia on 20 August. Source: Timberbiz The imagery in the new television commercial and campaign challenges the current consumer perce

The Green Triangle – along with its $860 million forestry industry – will soon be home to Australia’s largest camera bushfire detection network. Source: Timberbiz This investment in technology supports quick and precise fire detection, protecting communities and plantation forests, a

The push against native timber harvesting in this country is sadly gathering pace. And that is not a good thing for so many reasons. The push is obviously coming from the left side of politics, but even so Labor appears a little divided on the issue. The Guardian reported this week th

More than 300 Labor branches have backed a push by the party’s environmental arm for the Albanese government to fund an expanded, publicly owned plantation industry to ensure the country gets the timber it needs and end native forest logging. Source: The Guardian A report by the Labor

The president of the professional association for forest scientists, managers and growers, Dr Michelle Freeman has paid tribute to former president, Bob Gordon who has called time on his many years of service to the organisation and resigned as a director. Source: Timberbiz And Austra

Two things are certain about Victoria. The premier Dan Andrews plays a mean political game, and certain sections of the media in that State will do all they can – indeed everything they can – to bring him down. This week it was the story that the Andrews government was being accused o

Australia’s forest industry fears the Albanese government’s new national environment standards could end native forest logging nationally. Source: The Australian Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek is drafting the new standards as part of a revamp of environmental law and has vowed t

A Tasmanian forest protester has been sentenced to three months’ jail – the first time in a decade anyone in the state has served time for environmental activism. Sources: The Mercury, Timberbiz Colette Joan Harmsen, 47, raised her fist in defiance as she was led away by court securit

It has been a week of highs, and lows. On the upside the largely ineffective and controversial “water rule” has been scrapped. The rule prevented plantation and farm forestry projects from access to the carbon market, held up much-needed investment in new plantations, and discouraged

A Tasmanian MP has claimed Victorian timber companies – denied access to local hardwood – are undercutting Tasmanian competitors and jeopardising the State’s timber industry. Source: Timberbiz The Independent Member for Lyons, John Tucker claims the Tasmanian timber industry is facing

The Federal Government has removed the controversial “water rule” from the Australian Carbon Credit Unit scheme. The water rule – with its complex exceptions – has been an ad-hoc and ineffective way of managing water resources. Source: Timberbiz The Australian Govern

The long-term damage caused by the State Government in Victoria’s decision to close the native timber industry – prematurely or otherwise – is rapidly becoming obvious. In fact, that government’s treatment of rural Victoria makes it even worse. John Cameron knows what he i

The future of Victoria’s forests has been captured by political ideology and complex legalities rather than being determined by science and professional expertise, according to Forestry Australia. Source: Phillip Hopkins for Timberbiz Forestry Australia, which represents Austral

The final report of the Trials Review, Information and Genetics (TRIG) project has been released along with advisory information and updated data. Source: Timberbiz According to TRIG Steering Committee Chair, Dr Kevin Harding, the project sought to leverage the past work of Victoria’s

It’s not only the timber industry that’s in decline, the government’s forestry agency, the Forest Products Commission (FPC) is also sinking fast. The WA 2023-24 Budget Papers indicate that this commercial business is failing under the Labor Government. It is predicted to continue to m

On Tuesday this week the Victoria’s Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal by VicForests against an earlier decision of a judge in the Trial Division of the Supreme Court. This has ended any hope of an attempt to continue native timber harvesting. Source: Timberbiz, Weekly Times

VicForests has released an amended Timber Release Plan (TRP) to support the new transition timeframe out of native harvesting. Source: Timberbiz The TRP covers areas where you may conduct operations in state forests, including timber harvesting. These areas are divided into sections o

Plenty has been written on the Victorian Government’s decision to bring forward the cessation of native forest harvesting to the end of 2023. Looking at the wounds that some of those words have caused on our colleagues, we would like to clarify several issues that we think are a misin

The Nationals Member for Eastern Victoria Region, Melina Bath wants Labor’s Minister for Agriculture, Gayle Tierney to meet with a local timber delegation that includes workers, families, contractors, and small businesses. Source: Timberbiz The request was made following Minister D’Am

Queensland’s forest and timber industry is looking forward to the lifting of the water rule barrier in the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) to promote new plantation investment in the state. Source: Timberbiz Timber Queensland CEO Mick Stephens said that this barrier is irrational and d

When Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews announced the premature closure of the State’s native timber industry recently, he noted, “It’s not good enough for us to just cross our fingers and hope for the best. We need a plan to support workers, their families and support local jobs.” He

Wellington Shire Councillor the late Malcolm Hole has been awarded a posthumous Order of Australia for his service to local government, and to the community. Source: Timberbiz Cr Hole was a tenacious and passionate councillor, offering steadfast leadership to his community up until hi

There is a shortage of manpower in the forestry industry, and it is Australia wide. Ask anyone in the industry, almost regardless of which sector they are in, what is the biggest hurdle they face at present and they will say a lack of staff. Many point to an ageing workforce on the gr

The Andrews government has failed to outline how it will deliver on its promise to employ 30 harvest and haulage crews to fight major bushfires and build strategic fuel breaks to protect communities. Source: Weekly Times On budget day, Treasurer Tim Pallas said 30 crews would be emplo

A call for Tasmania to stop native forest logging is unlikely to win government support. Source: Hobart Mercury The Australia Institute has taken out full-page ads in Tasmania’s newspapers signed by 67 high-profile Australians calling for the state to follow the lead of Victoria and W

Much has been said, much has been written and there is no doubt more to come on the Victorian Government’s native timber decision. But comments from Wellington Shire Council Mayor Ian Bye and Australian Sustainable Hardwoods general manager Vince Hurley perhaps as much as anyone, set

The Nationals Member for Eastern Victoria and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Public Land Use Melina Bath has blasted the Andrews Government over its decision to axe Victoria’s native timber industry. Source: Timberbiz During question time Ms Bath accused the Andrews Government of

Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester says he has no regrets after being booted out of Parliament for accusing the Prime Minister of hating timber workers. Source: Timberbiz In a heated Question Time clash on Thursday, Mr Chester challenged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to pro

Really, what more can be said about Tuesday’s shocking Victorian State Government decision to shut down the native timber industry six years early. The decision has been rightly labelled as flawed, disgraceful, gut-wrenching and devastating. It is truly hard to fathom why such a decis

The timber industry has universally condemned yesterday’s announcement that the Victorian native timber industry is to be shut down by the end of this year. The decision has been described as flawed, disgraceful, gut-wrenching and devastating. Source: Timberbiz “This Government&

The native timber in Victoria now will be shut down by the end of this year. Source: Timberbiz Today’s announcement brings forward plans announced in 2019 by the Victorian Government to phase out native timber logging by 2030. The State Government today announced an additional $

Mount Gambier City Council has deferred a decision to consider becoming a member of the South Australian Forest Products Association which would incur a yearly membership fee of $3000.  Source: Timberbiz, SE Voice The significance of the forestry industry in Mount Gambier prompted cou

China’s announcement on Thursday that it would lift its ban on Australian timber imports has been widely welcomed. It is good news. Hundreds of people lost their jobs when China imposed the ban in 2020 because of “phytosanitary concerns”. The problem, it seemed, was

With a forward focus on the strategic opportunities and operational challenges for forest contracting businesses, peak body Australian Forest Contractors Association is restructuring. Source: Timberbiz “AFCA has experienced considerable growth in its membership base,” Adan Taylor, Cha

Traralgon’s Gippsland Performing Arts Centre, or GPAC, has made the regional prize shortlist in the 2023 Victorian Architecture Awards. Source: LaTrobe Valley Express The awards program celebrates the top architectural outcomes across the state, spanning categories of public architect

Everyone knows there is a shortage of labor across the board in Australia at the moment. There is barely an industry not touched. The jobs are there but filling them is a major headache for employers. The timber industry is not immune, and the focus is well and truly on the lack of dr

The McGowan Government will deliver $36 million through the 2023-24 State Budget to create dozens of new jobs to help deliver on the historic decision to end native logging in Australia’s South-West. Source: Timberbiz The additional resources will assist in implementing the Fore

Landowners will be encouraged to learn how they can estimate their carbon impact thanks to the Tasmanian Government’s investment in the future of the State’s forestry sector via a new portal. Source: Timberbiz Minister for Resources, Felix Ellis, said the Farm Forestry Carbon Tool and

“To those people who voted Labor and Greens, I hope you truly realise what damage you have done to these small communities and the businesses that have put food on the table for so many.” These words from Walkers Sawmill owner Graham Walker in a letter to the local paper the Corryong

The Professional Ownership & Driver Wellbeing Program is back encompassing not just the PODW program but also the ‘Rollover’ Program to present a complete and comprehensive training package designed for ‘best practice’ across the whole transport industry as

OneFortyOne has appointed Wendy Norris as CEO effective from mid-June. Source: Timberbiz “Wendy is an outstanding choice, and she brings with her a deep understanding of OneFortyOne and the forest and timber processing sectors,” OneFortyOne Chairman John Gilleland said. Ms Norris was

It’s no secret that there is a labour shortage across Australia at the moment. And the timber and forestry industries are not immune. There are vacancies everywhere. According to a recent NAB report four in 10 business owners in Tasmania, Western Australia and Queensland said labour s

What are the current jobs you are having trouble filling? What skills do workers need to do these jobs? Are these jobs critical for the growth of your business and our industry as a whole? These are the questions being answered in the Forest Industry Career Mapping Project, a joint in

The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) and the National Farmers’ Federation have welcomed last week’s Net Zero Australia analysis which recognises how forestry and agriculture can help Australia fight climate change. Source: Timberbiz “Reducing emissions is a critical pathw

So, masked protesters from the Bob Brown Foundation have set off distress flares outside Tasmania’s State Parliament building to protest against forestry regeneration burns. The annual round of burn-offs angers environmentalists and some tourism operators but is defended by the indust

Learning to handle forest management in a drying climate has been a central theme to a visit this week to the Green Triangle region by a French forestry delegation. Source: Timberbiz The visit has been prompted by the challenges faced by the French forest industry including unpreceden

Tasmania’s peak tourism industry organisation says a new approach is needed for forest management burns across the state during busy visitor periods. Source: Timberbiz Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania (TICT) CEO, Luke Martin, said Sustainable Timbers Tasmania needed to contemporis

  Those in the timber industry in Western Australia could easily be converted to the opinion that conspiracy theories do exist. Take Gavin Butcher’s comment piece in today’s Daily Timber News. Now, Mr Butcher is no newcomer to the timber industry in the west. He is a former direc

Courtney Houssos has been named New South Wales’ new Minister for Finance and Natural Resources, which includes responsibility for forest industries. It follows the ALP’s win in the State election on 25 March. Source: Timberbiz Ms Houssos has been a Labor member of the NSW

Two family-owned sawmills remain in the dark as they wait for official tenders to be opened. It comes following the licences between the sawmills and OneFortyOne coming to an end on 30 June this year with the forest plantation owners reiterating it will not automatically renew the con

At long last, the way ahead is clear for the first wind farm to be built in a plantation in Australia. The Supreme Court in Victoria has ruled the proposed 2000 megawatt Delburn wind farm in the Strzelecki Ranges can go ahead after a community group, Strezlecki Community Alliance, had

Major upgrades to specialist firefighting equipment will underpin ForestrySA’s commitment to community fire prevention, preparedness and response in the Adelaide Hills for many years to come. Source: Timberbiz ForestrySA’s state-of-the-art FireKing fire tankers have undergone complete

The new State Government in New South Wales has been urged to address the state’s looming timber supply challenges as a priority and to protect forest workers from workplace harassment and trespass. Source: Timberbiz AFPA NSW CEO Victor Violante said NSW needs to significantly grow it

New South Wales goes to the polls tomorrow and it has been a relatively quiet affair. Even the Sydney Morning Herald commented earlier this month that people could be forgiven for not even realising there’s an election on March 25. Cost of living is of course, at the front of everyone

On behalf of Forestry Australia we congratulate you on your initiative to improve the outlook for endangered koalas in NSW. However, we need to take a suite of actions to conserve and maintain healthy and sustainable populations and simply creating a National Park may not be the most

Private Forests Tasmania’s Agriforester Molly Marshall has joined a small group of Australian foresters and bushland managers visiting Japan to share forestry experiences and techniques with their counterparts. Source: Timberbiz Australian academic, Professor Michael Seigel, int

Penny Wells’ decision to step down from the role of Chief Executive Officer of Private Forests Tasmania is a huge blow to that State’s timber industry. It’s possible that no one has worked harder for the timber industry in Tasmania over the past five years than Penny. After those five

Victorian Government bureaucrats are handing out contracts worth between $100,000 and $461,200 to civil construction companies to clear strategic fuel breaks, rather than using out-of-work VicForests harvest & haulage contractors. Source: The Weekly Times Twenty-five of VicForests

  So, now we know for certain what it means when a politician – in this case a potential prime minister – makes a promise. It means zip. But we all pretty much knew that anyway. In this case it was then Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese, who wrote to forestry workers in Tasmani

The Australian Forest Products Association NSW has released its six-point plan to grow the state’s forestry, timber and paper sector, and will be seeking the backing of all political parties and candidates for these policy priorities ahead of the NSW Election on 25 March. Source: Timb

Victoria’s State Government says supporting workers in the Latrobe Valley is a top priority and it welcomes Opal’s recent public confirmation of the importance of the Maryvale mill and its workers to the company’s future. Source: Timberbiz We are and will continue discussi

The New South Wales State election is in full swing now, and up until this week it has been an extremely quiet affair. Even the Sydney Morning Herald commented this week that people could be forgiven for not even realising there’s an election on 25 March. Cost of living is of course a

Australia’s first electric log truck has arrived in Mount Gambier, as Fennell Forestry cuts a new path towards a carbon-free future for the sector. The truck is just the second electric log truck in the world and has been commissioned by the local harvest and haulage company to provid

Supply of nation-building hardwood timber is critical to the NSW economy, providing thousands of jobs and skills right along the supply chain, according to a new Ernst + Young Report. Source: Timberbiz Science-based election policies must safeguard local timber supply to meet the risi

Forget the politics, forget the grandstanding. Everything that could be said about the Victorian Government’s shameful decision to shut down the sustainable and thriving native timber industry has probably been said. We are yet to see the full financial impact on East Gippsland,

Comments by WA Forestry Minister Jackie Jarvis critical of timber businesses Whiteland Milling for sending timber out of Western Australia for value-adding have been described as ‘deplorable’. Source: Timberbiz Speaking in State Parliament during a parliamentary debate in the Legislat

The Western Australian Government has launched a $4 million Community Small Grants Fund to support businesses and community groups based in Western Australia’s native forest regions. Source: Timberbiz The fund offers funding of up to $100,000 for sustainable projects that aim to

Opal Australia will shut down its graphic paper manufacturing operations at its mill in Maryvale in eastern Victoria. The company says it will now focus on its packaging business. Unions believe about 200 people may lose their jobs. Source: Timberbiz The ABC says that brown paper prod

The Nationals Member for Morwell, Martin Cameron has challenged the Andrews Labor Government over the possible permanent closure of Opal Australian Paper’s Maryvale white paper mill. Source: Timberbiz Mr Cameron used his first opportunity in State Parliament last week to question the

The Federal Parliament has backed the vital role new timber plantations will play in fighting climate change and providing sustainable timber and wood fibre supply into the future, with a resounding vote in the Senate to confirm the role of plantations in the Emissions Reduction Fund

Since 120 workers were stood down in December at Australia’s last remaining office paper manufacturer, Opal, unions and workers have been waiting for news of the future of the white paper line at the Gippsland Maryvale mill. Source: Timberbiz It was reported yesterday by ABC Gippsland

VicForests has released the amended Timber Release Plan (TRP).  The amendment to the TRP includes, the addition of 11 new coupes, the removal of 111 coupes that have been regenerated and the removal of 124 coupes that are no longer planned to be harvested. Source: Timberbiz Of the 11

Once again, the Western Australian Government’s inexplicable decision to end hardwood harvesting by next year has led to jobs, and a town in shock. Two weeks ago, it was Nannup where 45 people lost their jobs when Parkside Timber effectively closed the doors on the mill there. Today P

AE Gibson & Sons Pty Ltd has been appointed regional Australia and New Zealand partner for Canadian company Cardinal Sawquip. Source: Timberbiz Sawquip International (a division of Cardinal Corporation) was founded in 1988 to provide quality sawmill equipment for the primary and s

After more than 70 years supplying quality hardwood timber and timber products, Grafton native hardwood timber mill J Notaras and Sons has been sold to Newcastle-based Marshall’s Timbers. Source: Timberbiz Completion of the transaction, which includes land, buildings, equipment

  Do any of these possibly well-meaning anti-forestry folk really think through the ramifications of their usually hair-brained destructive schemes when they come up with them? It seems not. Let’s look at the three latest examples; the Greens and anti-forestry led closure of the

The last ream of Reflex white paper’s been produced at the Maryvale Paper Mill, creating uncertainty for more than 90 workers in the production room. Source: Timberbiz Opal Australian Paper’s closure of the production of white paper means Australia will need to rely on imp

The tiny town of Nannup is the latest to feel the brunt of the Western Australian government’s decision to end native logging with the town’s timber mill closing. Source: Timberbiz Forty-five people lost their jobs when Parkside Timber closed the doors late last week. The

In November 2021 former Australian Forest Products Association CEO Ross Hampton wrote that what was then the latest five yearly review by ABARES of Australia’s national plantation estate was more than sobering reading. It was, Mr Hampton said, like the script of a horror film. “The bu

Public houses built in South Australia must use products manufactured in the state, under ground-breaking mandates introduced by the State Government. Source: Timberbiz It’s the first change announced as a result of sweeping and broad reforms to government procurement – a Labor electi

The Australian Forest Products Association has welcomed the appointment of board member and forest industries leader Mark Rogers as CEO of New Forests. Source: Timberbiz Mr Rogers is taking on the role from David Brand who will become New Forests Chair following an exemplary career le

2023 seems to have arrived with very little good news for employees at Opal’s Maryvale mill. Just before Christmas Opal was forced to tell 35 workers that they were going to be stood down until mid-February with full pay. Opal has consistently said that it is working through what is “

Timber shortages that caused delays and cost blowouts in the construction industry are finally easing as international supply chains open up, but experts warn that Australia desperately needs to increase local capacity to avoid a “false dawn”. Source: The Australian Master Builders As

Opal Australian Paper informed 35 of its workers just before Christmas that they were going to be stood down with full pay for an indefinite period of time. The stand downs were effective from 1 January 2023. Sources: News.com.au and Timberbiz According to AAP, a further 120 workers a

  Victoria’s State Government has failed in Parliament this week to guarantee Opal Maryvale Mill stand downs won’t become permanent redundancies. Source: Timberbiz The Nationals Member for Eastern Victoria Region Melina Bath demanded answers on future job security for worke

The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) says the Federal Government has bowed to pressure from anti-forestry groups by removing the eligibility of native forest biomass from the Renewable Energy Target which it says is at odds with the international scientific consensus. Sou

There is a simple problem with a number of very simple solutions. The problem is that there is a shortage of timber, for companies like Opal in Victoria for example, a solution would be for a) the Victorian State Government to take steps to end the ongoing green lawfare by closing the

The State Government in Victoria says it is actively engaging with Opal Maryvale Mill to minimise job impacts from the timber shortage and accelerate the mill’s transition away from native timber harvesting. Source: Timberbiz It says Opal has given assurances that there will be no imm

The new Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, led by Lily D’Ambrosio, will take control of agriculture and forestry from January 1 under a major restructure of departments. Source: Weekly Times Up until now Agriculture Victoria and VicForests had been part of

Just when things start to slow down for the Christmas break, the busier things get. The Federal Government’s commitment to retain Australia’s Regional Forest Agreements is just the sort of good news the nation’s timber industry needs as the year draws to a close. The commitment is par

Opal Australian Paper is preparing to stand down workers at its Maryvale mill on Christmas Eve, in the wake of a pulp-log shortage brought on by environmentalists’ legal action. Source: Weekly Times “VicForests’ operations remain suspended and as a result, the lack of wood supply is c

The Forest Products Commission of Western Australia (FPC) is implementing Remsoft Operations with connected Optimization Modeling capabilities to streamline annual planning and forest estate management. By increasing planning effectiveness and transparency, the technology will free up

It was indeed pleasing for the timber industry nationally to have the Prime Minister Mr Albanese this week deliver a strong endorsement of Australia’s sustainably managed native and plantation timber industries. It is a message he has delivered before, and as then, is very welcoming.

Victoria’s forest industries welcome the re-elected Labor Government with a mandate to support forestry in tackling climate change and securing Victoria’s future timber and fibre needs. Source: Timberbiz Victorian Forest Products Association CEO Deb Kerr said Victoria’s renewable fore

The Nationals, Legalise Cannabis Party, and the Greens are expected to be the big winners in the new-look Victorian Upper House. Sources: Timberbiz, Herald Sun, Weekly Times, chart WA Today Labor is unlikely to win a majority so the state’s Upper House will again be controlled by mino

So, Victoria goes to the polls tomorrow. There is little doubt much is at stake, and although comments that “your vote will really count” are trotted out at every election on this occasion this time your vote will really count. This election is about many things, but it has mainly bee

Ross Hampton has resigned as CEO of the Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) after 10 years in the position. Mr Hampton, who is moving to the United Kingdom, will remain as CEO until early next year. Source: Timberbiz Former MP and AFPA director Joel Fitzgibbon will act as in

With polling having opened in Bairnsdale for this weekend’s State election in Victoria, and the first votes having already being cast, the sitting Member for East Gippsland Tim Bull, says saving the timber industry in East Gippsland is only one reason to vote Nationals. Source:

The battle for the timber industry in East Gippsland today hit the road, hopefully tugging at the Labor Government’s heartstrings. This morning timber workers rallied in Warragul and Rosedale before driving their trucks down the Princes Freeway to Morwell, in what organisers described

Timber workers will rally in Warragul and Rosedale from 9am on Friday before driving their trucks down the Princes Freeway to Morwell, in what organisers have described as a funeral procession to mark the “death” of timber towns. Source: Timberbiz The procession of trucks,

The Latrobe Valley’s biggest employer, the Maryvale Paper Mill, has warned a halt to timber harvesting jeopardises critical supplies of hardwood pulp logs to the site. Source: Weekly Times Opal, which employs 850 workers at its Maryvale Australian Paper mill, issued a statement saying

In January 2020, a picture of fifth-generation logger Brett Robin was featured in Victoria’s Herald Sun newspaper. The picture is of Brett with an injured koala he rescued during the dark days of the massive bushfire around Mallacoota. His job was to fell dangerous trees and clear deb

Australia has become a founding member of the Forests and Climate Leaders Partnership, a new international group to accelerate the contribution of forests to global climate action. Source: Timberbiz The UK-led voluntary partnership was formally launched today at COP27 in Egypt to main

A landmark study has found that state forests deliver better long-term social outcomes than national parks in South and Central Queensland. The Indufor-Natural Capital Economics study found – ‘State forests…would have a slightly superior outcome in terms of carbon sequestration and st

Victorians go to the polls in just three weeks. If some of the Press reports coming out of Victoria are to be fully believed the Premier Dan Andrews might have a fight on his hands. His handling on Covid is under attack, it has been claimed that ambulance response times for critical e

  The Victorian Forest Products Association has launched a Victoria Wood campaign to educate Victorians about the wood products they use every day. Source: Timberbiz Key points of the initiative include: Case studies that introduce the growers and makers of wood products in Victo

Responsible Wood’s Matt de Jongh has been elected to the Forestry Australia board and Indufor’s Blair Freeman has been returned to the board at the recent National Symposium in Albury. Source: Timberbiz Forestry Australia CEO Jacquie Martin said their appointments would he

As with any Federal Budget, there is a lot to unpack from Tuesday night. This year’s announcements, while not totally terrifying, did not deliver any great news. But there were some bundles of good news for the forestry industry. The big one of course was the $100 million in funding f

A new National Institute for Forest Products Innovation will embark on transformative R&D with $100 million confirmed for the Launceston headquartered centre in last night’s Federal Budget. Source: Timberbiz The project was first announced by the Morrison government in May and lat

The Western Australian Government is seeking Expressions of Interest from the community to be part of the Native Forestry Community Advisory Group. Source:  Timberbiz The Native Forestry Advisory Group will be chaired by the local member for Warren-Blackwood MLA Jane Kelsbie, and will

It was pleasing to hear the value of the timber industry to the economy applauded by the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Senator Murray Watt this week. In particular, it was pleasing to hear the Senator acknowledge that keeping timber jobs in the regions meant

Councils should focus on what they’re there for, and not be deciding the fate of the hardwood timber industry, according to Victorian Forest Products Association (VFPA) CEO Deb Kerr. Ms Kerr was commenting on inner-city Melbourne suburb Maribyrnong pushing through a resolution at the

  Documents released under a Freedom of Information request have exposed a lack of evidence-based decision making by the Western Australian Government in relation to management of native forests, according to the organisation that represents professional forest scientists and man

The government in Victoria, and the timber industry as a whole in that State and beyond should be keeping a close eye on developments this week in Western Australia. Gavin Butcher, who previously worked for the Forest Products Commission (FPC) for 20 years, recently obtained documents

A Mannus Correctional Centre works release program is providing inmates with employment opportunities, while helping meet an unprecedented demand for timber by filling a labour shortage in in New South Wales’ largest sawmill. Source: Timberbiz Hyne Timber Tumbarumba Sawmill, which has

  The state government’s $120 million plan to transition from native forestry to softwood plantations in Gippsland has been debunked by the workers at the coálface’ – the forest contractors. Source: Philip Hopkins for Timberbiz “The plan does not add up,”

The East Gippsland town of Orbost has become the very human face of the plight of the native timber industry in Victoria. The industry closure scheduled for 2030 has the potential to gut the town. With a population just shy of 2500, it simply cannot cope with the potential loss of a t

The Victorian Government has reduced the area available for native timber harvesting to less than 2% of Victoria’s public forests. Source: Timberbiz “The Andrews Government’s actions are totally undermining any industry confidence that it would be able to guarantee supply timber until

So, the State Government in Victoria plans to invest $120 million to help “shore up Victoria’s timber supply and supporting the forestry sector’s transition away from native timber”. Lots of pretty numbers in the announcement; 2000 new jobs, plantations covering an area the size of 70

Hundreds of Victorians have signed petitions urging the retention of the state’s native forest industry and an upgraded policy of fuel reduction burning. Source: Philip Hopkins for Timberbiz Ecologist and niche timber harvester James Kidman, who operates in the Otway Ranges just past

Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester has welcomed the focus on sustainable jobs in East Gippsland Shire Council’s position paper on ‘Native Timber Harvesting in East Gippsland’. Source: Timberbiz The document adds weight to community demands for the Premier Dan Andrews to rever

It can be a bit difficult to start thinking, and planning, for another bushfire season when so much of the country is receiving record rains and battling floods. But prepare we must. Try telling the 42 firefighters the Forestry Corporation of NSW took to at Wauchope for a training cam

The Australian Forest Products Association NSW has expressed support for the expansion of timber plantations in NSW as recommended by an Upper House timber inquiry as the best way to guarantee timber supply. Source: Timberbiz The expansion of plantations was a key recommendation of th

The New South Wales Government will not put a stop to native forest logging despite an online petition with more than 20,000 signatures. Source: Timberbiz The petition, circulated by the Brooman State Forest Conservation Group, included called for an immediate pause to logging and the

Science – and the apparent lack of it – seems to continue to be something of a sticking point at the core of the decision by the governments of WA and Victoria to shut down the native timber industry. Source: Timberbiz In Victoria, despite numerous calls from both within Parliament an

This week at an awards dinner held in Auckland the New Zealand Institute of Forestry (NZIF) announced the winners of its three most prestigious awards. The 2022 recipients are acknowledged for their diverse range of skills and experience; from hard graft and commitment at grass roots

Wednesday’s Forest Industries Gala Dinner in Canberra has been cancelled. It follows the death late last week of Queen Elizabeth II and the Federal Government’s decision to officially suspend Parliament this week. Source: Timberbiz The dinner was to have been held in the G

Ever tried to skip paying a bill from a state government agency? Didn’t think so. Odder still, ever had a state government say don’t worry about paying that bill? Obviously not. So why then can the Victorian State Government simply decide that a $2m debt is not worth recovering becaus

The current timber supply shortages in Victoria brought about by vexatious legal action against VicForests is causing anguish among the people of Orbost, where 37% of its workforce faces the axe. Source: Timberbiz Already thrown into an atmosphere of uncertainty with the announcement

The Victorian Forest Products Association has launched its state election platform, Our future grows on trees. VFPA CEO Deb Kerr said today she was proud to present a program that will help the state meet its demand for timber and emission reduction targets. Source: Timberbiz The Stat

There is something of a proverbial saying – dating back to the reign of Henry VIII – that says silence equals consent. The principle is not accepted in modern English law, but it cost Sir Thomas More his head in 1535 when asked at his trial why he was silent on being asked to acknowle

Adrian Kloeden is stepping down as a director and independent Chair of Hancock Victorian Plantations after eight years to focus on his increasing range of business and other interests. Senior business executive and commercial lawyer Therese Ryan has been appointed as a director and in

New workplace protection laws have been passed in Tasmania’s Upper House. Source: Timberbiz Under the new Police Offences Amendment (Workplace Protection) laws, protesters can now be slapped with harsher fines or longer jail terms for action that obstructs streets or causes a nu

Australian Sustainable Hardwoods (ASH) at Heyfield has received a $1.2 million state government grant to expand its plantation timber manufacturing operation. The new funding will help build a new $2.4 million specialised MASSLAM (Glue Laminated Timber) production line with timber sou

Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) chair, Greg McCormack, is stepping down from the role after 11 years. He will be replaced by AFPA director Diana Gibbs who was unanimously endorsed by the AFPA directors. Source: Timberbiz An agro-economist, Ms Gibbs, has served on the AFP

The union representing timber workers (CFMEU Manufacturing) has announced the start of a new targeted diversity program to induct new workers into the timber industry as labour shortages and timber demand have combined to create unexpected demand for workers. Source: Tumut and  Adelon

So, the Nationals Member for Gippsland South Danny O’Brien wants the Victorian State Government to explain why nothing has happened regarding the promised $110 million commitment to new timber plantations in the Latrobe Valley. He’s not the only one who wants an answer. In August last

Three new grant programs to support economic development and job creation in South-West communities in Western Australia have been announced by the State Government ahead of the end of native forest logging in 2024. Source: Timberbiz The Industry and Community Development Programs are

Victorian Supreme Court judge Melinda Richards has partially wound back court orders which prevented timber harvesting in the state’s central highlands. Source: Timberbiz Court injunctions granted in December prevent VicForests harvesting timber in the Central Highlands, Tambo or Gipp

There is an old saying – that has been raised here before – that local governments should stick to handling roads, rates and rubbish and that’s it. But instead, in recent years, we have seen an increase in the number of councils across Australia and overseas involved in social, politi

The Victorian Government has set the stage for an ugly showdown between legal forestry workers and increasingly belligerent and reckless protestors by blocking urgent amendments to legislation covering the timber industry, according to the Nationals. Source: Timberbiz The Nationals Le

Strengthened laws to protect forestry workers from illegal protest activity have passed the Victorian Parliament. Source: Timberbiz The Sustainable Forests Timber Amendment (Timber Harvesting Safety Zones) Bill 2022, brings stronger penalties to deter dangerous protest activities that

The headline online on Thursday screamed “Parliament compelled by 20,000 petitioners to debate future of native forest logging”. Another headline read “20,000 people force parliament to debate ending native forest logging”. Well, some of that was sort of accurate. First th

The Andrews Government’s treatment of the native forest industry shows why the Ombudsman’s investigation of the politicisation of the public service is so necessary, according to Narracan MP Gary Blackwood. Source: Philip Hopkins for Timberbiz The Ombudsman announced the investigation

Henkel Adhesive Technologies has strengthened its capabilities for timber construction solutions by investing in 3RT, Melbourne, Australia. Together with partners the company has developed a robotic process to convert forest and plantation residue into high-quality and unique hardwood

It’s hard work fighting a forest fire. It’s hot, dirty and dangerous. And the heat, dirt and danger doesn’t discriminate between the professionals and the volunteers. Professional and volunteer firefighters die while fighting bushfires. That’s a sad fact of life and it’s a calculated

Bradon MP Felix Ellis has been appointed Tasmania’s new Resources Minister replacing Guy Barnett. The Cabinet reshuffle follows the resignation of Police Minister Jacquie Petrusma. Mr Ellis, who joins cabinet for the first time, will also hold the Police, Fire and Emergency Mana

The School of Architecture and Design and the School of Engineering from The University of Tasmania is preparing a new Masters of Professional Engineering unit in timber design. Source: Built Offsite It’s being launched in recognition of the information and skills vacuum that exists i

The release this week of the summary report of the Major Event Review of the impacts of the 2019–20 bushfires on Victoria’s RFA regions has certainly created debate and emphasised some cause for concern. The purpose of the summary report is to provide information and data about the im

Victoria’s timber industry leaders say Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio could end the legal lockup of native forests by spending $100 gazetting Greater Glider possum protections into the Code of Practice for Timber Production. Source: Weekly Times Victorian Forest Products Associa

Plantation growers, processers and foresters are all part of the agriculture industry. That’s why Victoria’s forest industries celebrate Farm Safety Week 2022, Victorian Forest Products Association CEO Deb Kerr said today. Source: Timberbiz This year’s Farm Safety Week is themed “Reci

A comment was made recently that environmentalist groups would not be threatened by Victoria’s new laws designed to safeguard the State’s timber workers from protestors. They would, the comment argued, simply turn to the courts to tie such organisations as VicForests in so much red ta

Installing wind turbines in just five sites in State-owned pine plantations could generate up to 2.5 gigawatts of energy a year, a registration of interest process has revealed, prompting Forestry Corporation to formally call for Expressions of Interest to develop renewable energy gen

Urgent progress on the Billion Trees Plan is required if Australia is to have sufficient fibre to meet its future needs, according to the Australian Forest Products Association. Source: Timberbiz “Getting more trees in the ground now is an absolute must,” AFPA CEO Ross Hampton said. “

The farming versus forestry debate has been bubbling along in New Zealand for some time now. The argument from groups such as the Federated Farmers is, simply put, that too much valuable farming land is being used for trees. They use numerous arguments including farming jobs in region

A first-of-its-kind Tasmanian program incentivising northern farmers to grow trees on their farms launches today. The ActivAcre Program sees farmers lease part of their less productive land in return for a reliable, annual income. Source: Timberbiz In addition to increasing the produc

With climate change set to drive bigger and hotter bushfires, much more money needs to be spent on preparations to mitigate against fires in the first place, according to Climate Councillor, Greg Mullins. Source:  Philip Hopkins for Timberbiz Mr Mullins, the former Commissioner of Fir

Extreme fire weather days have increased in Australia by 56% over the last four decades, according to new research from an international team of scientists, including CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency. The results, published today, shows that the fire season length across Aus

The NSW Government’s $28 million funding injection to grow farm forestry will help NSW farmers to become foresters and ease the state’s timber shortages amid record demand, according to Australian Forest Products Association NSW. Source: Timberbiz AFPA NSW Chief Executive Officer Vict

  Gippsland’s forestry industry will benefit from new laws aimed to increase protection from politically motivated protest disruption. Source: Timberbiz The Nationals Member for Gippsland South Danny O’Brien said he was happy to join his Nationals colleagues in supporting the Sus

  There is possibly only one thing more dangerous than a bushfire breaking out and there being no fire brigade around to fight it. And that is probably an ill-equipped, poorly trained fire brigade being sent in to battle the blaze. Which begs the question as to why “third party l

Victorian Government bureaucrats have thrown yet another hurdle in front of timber workers trying to salvage up to 500,000 tonnes of windblown fallen timber from the Wombat Forest, following the June 2021 storms. Source: Weekly Times Harvest and haulage contractor Jim Greenwood, who i

Amendments to Western Australia’s Forest Products Act 2000 that will allow the Forest Products Commission (FPC) to trade in carbon assets has passed through State Parliament. Source: Timberbiz Until now, the FPC’s functions were restricted to dealing with forest products, which

Much is made, post Federal and State elections, of retired or even defeated former Ministers landing plush consulting jobs or directorships. All sides of politics carry out the game, usually making disparaging comments about “jobs for the boys” and so on. Sometimes the criticism is we

Former Cabinet Minister and long serving Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon will join the Australian Forest Products Association board as an independent non-executive director. Source: Timberbiz Mr Fitzgibbon was Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in the second Rudd Government and

South Australia’s Labor Government is spending a good and fitting amount of time in Mount Gambier visiting local forestry companies like OneFortyOne, and Victorian MP Darren Chester is calling on the Federal Government to do the same. Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester has wr

VicForests has secured funding from the Victorian Government to build a 5M capacity seedling nursery.  A lease for land has been signed with East Gippsland Water at its 145 Holloway Road, Bairnsdale site. Now VicForests is tendering for planning, design, construction and commissioning

With the incoming Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, vowing to unite Australians, Gippsland MHR, Darren Chester, has demanded that he start this process by pressuring the Andrews Government to overturn its ridiculous plan to ban native timber harvesting by 2030. Source: Phillip Hopkins

So, Victorian Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe says she is willing to risk losing her parliamentary position to continue protesting native logging. She is, apparently, prepared to break the law to make her point. Source: Timberbiz The laws she is prepared to break are contained in a Bill b

Australia’s forest industries welcome the new Albanese Government Ministry that was sworn in with a mandate to turbocharge the nation’s One Billion Trees goal to tackle climate change and secure Australia’s future timber and fibre needs. Source: Timberbiz Australian Forest Products As

Forestry Australia has revealed an inspiring line-up of keynote speakers for its 2022 Symposium, to be held both in person in Albury and online from Thursday 20 – Saturday 22 October. Source: Timberbiz Forest Policy Officer, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nation

The Victorian Government has taken firm – and in some quarters unexpected – action to safeguard the State’s timber workers from protestors. The proposed new laws are made of stern stuff, and the Government is to be applauded for its action. Protestors who illegally enter coupes in Vic

Protestors who illegally enter coupes in Victoria and dangerously interfere with workers or their machinery will be subject to stronger penalties including maximum fines of more than $21,000 or 12-months imprisonment. Source: Timberbiz And PVC and metal pipes, which can be used in dan

The Australian Forest Products Association has congratulated the incoming Albanese Labor Government and signalled its determination to assist Labor meet timber production targets and more ambitious climate goals. Source: Timberbiz Anthony Albanese was sworn in as Australia’s 31st prim

The biggest risk to the Australian timber industry in tomorrow’s Federal Election it seems is that it ends with a Labor Government with the support of independents. And by independents, in particular, read The Greens. Consider this. Greens Senator for Tasmania Peter Whish-Wilson is al

Timberlink has unveiled its new world-class Green Mill Vision Scanning System at its manufacturing facility at Bell Bay in Tasmania. Source: Timberbiz The $5.5m co-investment in the continuing upgrade and modernisation of Tasmania’s largest softwood timber manufacturing plant is suppo

The Coalition’s forest industry policy commitments have been given a “five stars out of five” ahead of Labor at “four stars” by the Australian Forest Products Association. Source: Timberbiz An AFPA analysis of the major political parties’ forest industry policy commitments has found t

The devastation that will be caused from Parkside’s decision to close its Greenbushes Mill in Western Australia this week with the loss of 50 jobs cannot be underestimated. That 50 jobs will be lost from a township with a population less than 400 will be devastating. Shire of Br

Illegal green activists were showing no respect for the traditional owners of the Wombat State Forest, blockading planned salvage harvesting needed to restore country. The Dja Dja Wurrung have commissioned VicForests to undertake extensive surveys and arrange salvage harvesting of win

Queensland’s Parkside Timber will close its green and dry mill at Greenbushes in Western Australia on Friday with 50 local employees stood down. The WA State Government’s decision to end native forestry by the end of 2023 has been blamed for the closure. Source: Timberbiz However WA F

Anyone in the housing industry looking for some relief from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s 0.25% increase in the cash rate was sadly disappointed. The idea that just maybe an increase in home loan interest rates may take some of the heat out of the housing market by slowing loan appl

The Maryvale Energy from Waste project at Opal Australian Paper’s Maryvale Mill, in Victoria, has been given $48.2m in grant funding helping to power Opal’s pulp and paper mill while driving down emissions. Source: Timberbiz By diverting about 325,000 tonnes a year of non-recyclable w

The University of Tasmania in Launceston will be home to a trailblazing new National Institute for Forest Products Innovation that will position Australia as a world leader in timber and wood fibre R&D after the Federal Labor Party matched the Coalition’s $100 million pledge. Sour

Hindsight, it is said, is 20:20 vision. But it can also be extremely insightful. Take the Victorian State Government’s decision this week to scrap the native seedling nursery at Nowa Nowa, East Gippsland. The $2m nursery, announced in 2020, was to be built on the PR Adams sawmill site

The West Australian Government has reached agreement with the Forest Industries Federation WA on a $26.9 million Business Transition Program. The Business Transition Program will provide financial support to native timber sawmills and harvesters before native forest logging ends in 20

So, Australia faces a ‘critical housing timber shortage’ by 2050. An interim report by Forest & Wood Products Australia has found that our reliance on imported timber will double by 2050 if our nation falls short of the plan to plant an additional one billion production trees. Thi

A first of its kind Green Triangle wood trial will explore how to use low value fibre in a new structural timber product thanks to a $1.3 million contribution from the Federal Government. Source: Timberbiz Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA) in partnership with the Green Triangl

With the official launch of the federal election campaign HIA will be working hard to ensure that all sides of politics have a clear plan on how to help all Australians have safe and secure housing. Source: Timberbiz “HIA has long argued that getting people into their own home is one

Coinciding with the start of the federal election campaign, Australia’s forest industries have launched “Australia, we need a tree change”, a major TV and digital advertising campaign promoting our need to plant one billion new forestry production trees to build future homes, provide

Hats off to the Wellington Shire Council for uncovering that Premier Daniel Andrews went to the last election and did not disclose the state government’s intention to shut down the native timber industry. The FOI documents, finally released to the Council after years of requests and a

Victoria’s Premier Dan Andrews has been accused of treating the forestry sector “like fools”. The comment by Timber Towns Victoria chair Karen Stephens follows a report in the Weekly Times that Mr Andrews signed off on phasing out native forest timber harvesting in Victoria in A

The sawmilling and timber processing sectors are developing new skills as the industry undergoes rapid digital transformation and technical progress. State-of-the-art equipment is being integrated into workplaces to increase productivity and produce innovative products, including cros

There did not appear a lot for Australia’s timber industry to get excited about in this week’s Federal Budget. Confirmation of $86 million to establish new timber plantations was of course welcome. But it was simply a repeat of an announcement made in February. The Australian Forest C

The Federal Budget’s confirmation of $86 million to establish new timber plantations has been welcomed by the Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) but it has warned that more action is needed to ensure Australia can meet its future timber and wood fibre needs. Source: Timberb

ForestWorks has launched a new program in the Snowy Valley region called the Snowy Valley Skills Development Service. Source: Tumut and Adelong Times The SVSDS is jointly funded by the Commonwealth and the New South Wales Government under the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund. For

According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, sustainably managed forests will help us move to an economy based on renewable, reusable, and recyclable materials. And as the world celebrated International Day of Forests on Monday, VFPA CEO Deb Kerr was calling on all sides o

The Federal Government will apply concessional tax treatment to the sale of Australian Carbon Credit Units generated by farmers from on-farm carbon projects including plantation forestry. Source: Timberbiz Under the new tax regime, farmers will treat revenue from the sale of ACCUs as

International Day of Forests Australia’s forest industries are marking today’s International Day of Forests to call on all sides of politics to focus on getting more production trees planted nationally, while guaranteeing a secure future for our sustainable native forest industries, t

Australians, in general, have always been happy – more or less – to be involved in a fair and equal fight. But it needs to be fair. Having one, or both, hands tied behind the back is simply not fair. What makes it even more unpalatable is when that handicap has the appearance of being

Anti-logging campaigners Environment East Gippsland have admitted diverting $336,000 into a trust fund just three weeks before commencing legal action against VicForests, which will stop the money being used to cover any court-awarded costs if it lost the case. Source: Weekly Times Re

The promise by the State Opposition to establish Mount Gambier as a high-status recognised centre of forestry research in Australia if it wins next weekend’s South Australian state elections is to be welcomed. So are its promises to develop the Trees on Farms initiative and plan

The decision by the world’s largest international forestry certifier to designate all timber originating from Russia and Belarus as ‘conflict timber’ banning this timber from being used in PEFC-certified products will have real and significant potential to impact on South Australia’s

The timber workers union (CFMEU Manufacturing) is demanding all political parties and independents facing March 19’s South Australian elections commit to support the South Australian forest and forest products industry. Source: Timberbiz “We need a growing forest and forest prod

The Federal Election can’t be that far away. It seems the only thing left is to decide the date. All we know is that it will be after the Federal Budget is handed down on March 29. While the election campaign proper is yet to be announced, the wish lists are starting to pile up. The A

The National Farmers Federation has identified 20 regional centres, including the key forestry precincts of the Green Triangle and the Gippsland Region, as targets for regional renewal. Source: Timberbiz And the NFF has recommended more than $1.4 billion in new investment to secure th

There is no moral equivalence between trade and the rights of sovereign nations, or of human rights for that matter. Trade is a tool for meeting human needs and advancing the interests of countries. Source: IndustryEdge Inevitably, trade with Russia and the Ukraine is a relevant topic

The Federal Government’s $86m plan for forestry announced this week must be generally applauded, but as the old saying goes, the devil will be in the detail. The $86 million for a cash-grant scheme is designed to help foresters and farmers in 11 declared regional forest hubs – includi

The announcement of $86 million in seed capital to grow new commercial plantation estate is another progressive step forward in realising the Green Triangle Forest Industries Hub’s Trees into Farming plan, according to committee chair Cam MacDonald. Source: Timberbiz And, according to

THE future of Australia’s wood supply will be secured under an ambitious funding plan working with foresters across the eastern states to plant up to 150 million trees in the next five years. Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will travel to Tasmania today to

The recent hearings by the New South Wales Upper House inquiry examining the sustainability of the timber industry should have, it is to be hoped, opened the eyes of the committee members. The hearings in Tumut laid down the facts for the committee made up of Mark Banasiak (SFF), Mick

Logging contractors had been left out of government support for the timber industry, an inquiry into the long term sustainability of the timber industry in Tumut has been told. Source: Tumut and Adelong Times Tumbarumba forest contracting operator Theresa Lonergan addressed the Upper

The Australian Forest Products Association NSW has welcomed the Federal Government’s decision to boost protections for koalas while raising the threatened species status from ‘vulnerable’ to ‘endangered’. Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Forest Products Association NSW, Victo

Some might say Australia’s appreciation of the benefits of engineered wood is still in its infancy. As recently as 2015 there were only two CLT buildings, in Melbourne, using panels shipped from Europe where engineered wood has had a strong following for quite some time. But the benef

Victoria’s State Government has told VicForests to back off taking legal action to recover $2 million in taxpayers’ funds from the anti-logging group MyEnvironment, according to a report in the Weekly Times. Source: Timberbiz The move has led the timber industry and Opposition to accu

Western Australia’s Minister for Forestry Dave Kelly must listen to the concerns of the forestry industry and drastically improve his attempt at a recently announced compensation package which has been labelled offensive by the sector, according to the State Opposition. The Labor Gove

It would be easy to dismiss the Federal Government decision to pour $300m into the promotion of low emissions timber as an election sweetener. The program, launched through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, will promote the use of low-carbon engineered wood materials in apartments

The Hyne Group has announced a partnership with UK-based James Jones & Sons Limited bringing together a combined 320 years of family-owned sawmilling heritage to pursue growth opportunities. Source: Timberbiz Under the terms of the partnership James Jones & Sons Limited holds

After reporting a five-year spend of nearly NZ$1.5 million on repairing roads damaged by logging trucks, a Taranaki council is looking to charge forestry owners more to save ratepayers footing the bill. Source: Stuff The Stratford District Council said costs to repair the unsealed roa

The Tasmanian Government is certainly putting its money where its mouth is in terms of forestry and timber. An investment of $6 million in a calculated bid to gain higher returns by increasing value-added production is hardly spare change. Seven projects around Tasmania will share in

  Forestry PhD graduates Michelle Balasso and Vilius Gendvilas obtained their PhD degrees from the University of Tasmania last year after being supported by Forico and other partners in their studies at the ARC Training Centre for Forest Value. Source: Timberbiz The Centre for Fo

It could be argued, mischievously perhaps, that loopholes are sometimes deliberately included in government-created rules and regulations to provide some wriggle room for various parties. Why else would a loophole exist in the Sustainable Forests Act which has enabled activist vigilan

Forest and Wood Communities Australia wants the Andrews Government to close the loophole in the Sustainable Forests Act which has enabled activist vigilantes to devastate the livelihoods of regional Victorians. Source: Timberbiz Unlike the Environment Protection Act 2017 (Section 347)

Conservationist Bob Brown and five other activists will fight a charge of trespass later this year after they were arrested while protesting the logging of swift parrot habitat. Source: The Mercury In December 2020, the group was arrested in the Eastern Tiers, where the critically end

There are only so many kicks in the teeth an industry can cope with. In Victoria of course there was the pre-Christmas Supreme Court decision which effectively shut down VicForests’ entire native timber operations. The court order cites that any coupe with one or more greater glider s

WA mills have been told that any attempt to seek legal redress over any breach of contract would result in them missing out on any compensation from the Government’s $50 million transition package for logging businesses impacted by the native logging ban. Source: Timberbiz The State G

Western Australia’s Forest Industries Federation wants Premier Mark McGowan to honour his commitment to timber businesses. When Mr McGowan made his announcement to cease harvesting of native forests by the end of 2023, he publicly pledged that the government would meet current contrac

Next thing the Minister will have protestors on the steps of parliament because we are importing (timber) from countries with far less oversight and killing orang-utans – Nationals Gippsland East MP Tim Bull. It’s about time someone put it as bluntly as that. He went on: “What I would

Victoria’s native timber industry has been left in limbo with VicForests believed to be standing crews down following a Supreme Court decision just days before Christmas Day. In the Supreme Court on 22 December 2021, Justice Richards granted an order to stop native timber harvesting i

Australia’s forestry sector has welcomed the Federal Government’s announcement of $26.2 million in funding for forestry with both the Victorian Forest Products Association (VFPA) and the Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) issuing statements to that effect. Funding will assi

A new $1.1 million Regional Forestry Hub has been launched in Eden, New South Wales to support forest industries’ growth and innovation in the Eden region. This is Australia’s 11th Regional Forestry Hub established under the national Forest Industries Plan. Source: Timberbiz Ass

The High Court has refused the Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum request to appeal to the High Court in their case against VicForests. In the decision on Friday the High Court ruled that it did not find any fault with the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision. Source: Timberbiz The Friends

A new study that claimed New South Wales taxpayers would save millions of dollars every year if the harvesting of native timber was stopped drew a sharp intake of breath in a number of quarters this week. None more so than from South East Timber Association secretary Peter Rutherford.

The Murray Valley timber catchment holds great potential for forestry plantation growth and offers a viable solution to shoring up future timber supply for housing and construction following the Black Summer bushfires, according to a professional forum held in the region last month. S

NewGen timber mill in South Australia may have a solution to stem the demand for structural timber following a state government grant. More than $400,000 has been handed over to NewGen Timber to further develop the recently purchased site in an effort to increase the structural timber

Lawfare. It’s a word that first saw the light of day, it is said, in the 1975 manuscript Whither Goeth the Law, which argues that the Western legal system has become overly contentious, and utilitarian as compared with the more humanitarian, norm-based Eastern system. More recently, i

The $11.3 million Eric Tweedale Stadium in Western Sydney is the overall winner of this year’s Australian Timber Design Awards. The stunning stadium, offering a new home for community sport and providing residents and visitors with a revitalised facility, is also winner of the People’

A massive industry labour shortage in the region has hit a local business hard with Alpine Truss in Wangaratta willing to put on up to 30 good workers but they can‘t fill the positions. Source: Wangaratta Chronicle The business hasn‘t been busier in its 20 years of operation, even wit

It has been a rough week in Victoria with court action and protests highlighting the timber situation in that State. And it all stems from the Victorian Government’s decision to shut down the native timber industry by 2030. It began anew last week with the CMFEU warning that impending

Victorian Labor senator Raff Ciccone has warned his colleagues against demonising regional industries, particularly forestry, as the federal opposition prepares to finalise its climate policy ahead of next year’s election. Source: The Age In a speech to the Senate on Tuesday night, Se

The Victorian timber industry is facing a fresh crisis with VicForests’ contractors and timber workers stood down last week because of more recent injunctions placed on the harvesting of coupes. Source: Timberbiz The timber workers union held urgent talks with forest contractors

The end days of the Kangaroo Island Plantation Timbers saga involving the timber company building a deep-water harbour facility on the island played out in the South Australian Parliament this week. And it looks like it could cost the State’s Attorney General, who is also Planning Min

Australia’s nine Regional Forestry Hubs have received a $9 million funding boost to support growth in the forest industries. Spread out for the next four years, the funding is part of a $10.6 million national investment which will help finance the existing forestry hubs around Austral

ABARES Australia’s State of the Forests Report – 2023 and beyond position paper identifies drivers for change in the mechanism of forest reporting through including increasing user expectations for access to current forest data, and access to information and analysis in digital, onlin

It is a fact that many of the roads, parks, walking trails and bike paths in our native forest regions across Australia are only there because of the forestry industry. The industry keeps the roads and tracks clear, and, in many cases, helps fund and create facilities. When tourists g

The Tasmanian Liberal Government has dismissed claims that forestry and tourism cannot co-exist in the State. “It is a matter of fact that a number of our iconic tourism ventures are located on or adjacent to forestry land, and have been for a number of years,” Resources Minister Guy

An unnecessary Victorian State Government zoning change is sacrificing East Gippsland timber jobs, according to the National Member for Eastern Victoria Region, Melina Bath. Source: Timberbiz According to Ms Bath, the State Government has altered the prescriptions from General Managem

Give Bob Brown an inch and he’ll take a heck of a lot more than just a mile. Take this week’s quite valid pledge out of the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use signed by more than 100 world leaders including our own prime minister Scott Morrison to halt deforestation

The past two years has been a period of upheaval within the timber industry nationally with bushfires, COVID lockdowns, China, plans to halt the native timber industry in at least two States and legal challenges to the timber industry as a whole. We believe the time is right to take a

The Australian Forest Products Association NSW wants the timber plantation regions of Oberon/Bathurst and Eden/Bombala included in the Emissions Reduction Fund. Source: Timberbiz Southern Tasmania, Gippsland, the Victorian side of the Green Triangle and Kangaroo Island were added to t

Why do the Greens do it? Why do they even bother? Why do they waste so much valuable time on little more than pointless publicity stunts? It’s probably because they can. This week it was a Bill the Greens leader in Tasmania Cassy O’Connor introduced the Forest Management Amendment (Mi

Southern Tasmania, Gippsland, the Victorian side of the Green Triangle and Kangaroo Island can now participate in the Emissions Reduction Fund with the Federal Government yesterday removing the highly contested rainfall regulation, known as the ‘water rule’. Source: Timberbiz In July

Mount Gambier-based ForestrySA ranger Kieran Gosden has won the 2021 Richard Stanton Award for her work in sustainable forestry and communities. The award and trophy, presented remotely during Responsible Wood AGM, recognises the life of a man who was devoted to the forest industry in

At a time when it is obvious that what we need now, and will need into the future, is more timber than we have, taking land from timber production would seem a bit odd. It has been reported extensively that Australia faces a timber deficit of 250,000 house frames in 15 years’ time and

A new $1.3 million feasibility study including targeted stakeholder consultation is looking at how best to improve research and development in the forestry sector, including the option of a National Institute for Forest Products Innovation. Source: Timberbiz Assistant Minister for For

  Post-harvest surveys have shown VicForests’ harvesting and regeneration practices are better protecting Victoria’s wildlife as species are now commonly found immediately within or around completed harvest areas.  Source: Timberbiz Presenting at Forestry Australia’s National Con

So, despite all the silly protests, koalas on the north coast of NSW are not under threat of extinction from timber harvesting after all. In fact, to quote the State’s Natural Resources Commissioner, Professor Hugh Durrant-Whyte – koala density is higher than anticipated in the survey

Tasmania’s largest plantation forestry manager, Forico, has released a world-leading and Australian first Natural Capital Report, which puts the net value of its forest ecosystem at $3.4 billion and the value of sequestered carbon as high as $9.2 billion. Source: Timberbiz The report

Victoria’s forestry workers, it is probably fair to say, were well and truly stitched up by their State Government this week. The “strict liability” clause in the Forests Legislation (Compliance and Enforcement) Bill 2019 leaves native timber workers vulnerable to a range of new serio

Legislation that threatens increased culpability and liability for forestry workers in Victoria was passed by State Parliament today. Source: Timberbiz It passed after the Victorian State Government refused to support amendments to the Forests Legislation Amendment (Compliance and Enf

The housing construction industry is facing something of a crisis. According to a landmark new report released on Tuesday by Master Builders Australia and the Australian Forest Products Association titled Australia’s Timber Framing Cliff, Australia faces a major sovereign capability g

Australia faces a major sovereign capability gap in the production of timber house frames by 2035, according to a landmark new report by Master Builders Australia and the Australian Forest Products Association titled Australia’s Timber Framing Cliff. Source: Timberbiz The report furth

A progress report on the National Forest Industries Plan shows the Australian Government is delivering on its commitments under the plan. The plan was launched in 2018 following extensive nationwide consultation. Source: Timberbiz “The Australian Government listened to industry when t

Common sense has prevailed with the fire-salvaged timber situation on Kangaroo Island. Bushfire-damaged timber on Kangaroo Island – enough timber for 10,000 new houses – will be sent to the mainland following a $15.1 million investment by the Federal Government. It should have been su

Western Australia’s largest hardwood timber operator has denied threatening to shut down its operations unless it received a $25.8 million grant from the State Government. Source: Timberbiz According to The West Australian newspaper a presentation by Parkside said that “without the gr

VicForests’ Board has approved the amendments to the TRP, in accordance with the requirements of the Sustainable Forests (Timber) Act 2004, and a notice in relation to the amended TRP was published in the Victoria Government Gazette S 506 on Wednesday.   Source: Timberbiz The amendmen

Thursday’s decision by the State Government in Victoria to delay a vote on radical reforms to Victoria’s forests legislation must only be seen as just that – a delay. But it might just be enough if there are enough delaying tactics deployed. And it seems likely that delaying tactics w

A Bill which opponents claim would result in Victorian native forest logging contractors facing huge fines for failing to comply with a Code of Practice for Timber Harvesting that is still under review has been passed in the Upper House and sent to the committee stage. The Victorian t

State and Federal MPs have poured cold water on Member for Mount Gambier Troy Bell’s push to lease carbon credits generated from the South East plantation estate to commercial entities, describing the value as minimal. Source: The Border Watch The independent MP has suggested the Stat

The WA Government’s decision this week to shut down the state’s native timber industry came as a rude shock to the entire industry. The decision was seemingly made with no industry consultation and was crudely delivered to say the least. One mill operator with 60 years’ experience in

WA’s forestry industry has been blindsided by the State Government’s sudden decision to end the native forestry sector by 2024. The announcement came yesterday morning with no industry consultation, leaving businesses, employees and regional communities shocked. Source: Timberbiz The

A timber coupe being used by TAFE Gippsland for training Victorian essential service personnel has been targeted by ‘vexatious’ court claims resulting in its closure. Source: Timberbiz Tiger coupe, located near Nowa Nowa in the Colquhoun State Forest in East Gippsland is a

The 2019-20 bushfires throughout Gippsland and Victoria’s north-east burnt 650,000 hectares of native forest set aside for the timber industry and released more than 50 million tonnes of forest carbon stocks into the atmosphere, according to a government report. Source: Philip Hopkins

From time to time, people enter the timber industry, sometimes from left field, and makes a huge difference to the industry as a whole. Forest and Wood Products Australia Managing Director Ric Sinclair and Australian Forest Contractors Association general manager Stacey Gardiner were

Forest and Wood Products Australia research to be presented at the National Forest Industries Symposium today has found planting production trees to offset emissions from Australia’s biggest companies would deliver a win-win; both tackling climate change and securing more future timbe

Tasmanian Forest Products Association (TFPA) says it is looking forward to working closely with the State Government and the minister to implement some important State Budget announcements that affect the forestry sector. Source: Timberbiz “Importantly the budget recognises the need f

The cancellation of this year’s AUSTimber event, while probably inevitable given the circumstances, is nonetheless disappointing in so many ways. No one wins. From the event organisers to the exhibitors to the communities and businesses in East Gippsland, to the industry as a whole, e

The Tasmanian Government will re-introduce anti-protest legislation which that failed to pass in the Upper House earlier this year. Resources Minister Guy Barnett told Parliament on Tuesday the government had a mandate to re-prosecute its workplace protection laws. Source: Timberbiz H

  The head of climate diplomacy at the British High Commission will discuss the United Kingdom’s Road to net-zero with the help of forestry and timber at the National Forest Industries Symposium. Source: Timberbiz It comes after the Australian Forest Products Association secured

If there is anything to be learnt from the pandemic, the first on the list must be what we got wrong, the second is how we ensure those mistakes don’t happen again, and thirdly, will things ever be the same again. The first is easy. We got so much wrong, and we are still getting thing

Five hundred homes worth of timber destined for Melbourne has been abandoned at a Shanghai dock because a shipping company accepted a lucrative offer to divert course to Los Angeles. Source: The Age, The Hardware Journal The Master Builders Association of Victoria (MBAV) said 50 conta

As Australia contends with major timber framing supply issues, forest industries look forward to greater progress on the Federal Government’s Billion Trees Plan to ensure we achieve sovereign capability to create our sustainable and essential wood and fibre products into the future sa

The announcement by Kangaroo Island Plantation Timbers (KIPT) that the company would pull out of forestry after its plan to build the Smith Bay Wharf was rejected was more than a surprise but the fact that now the South Australian Government will try to salvage the remaining timber is

Kangaroo Island Plantation Timbers will remove its tree crop and return its land to traditional agricultural use. Source: Timberbiz The decision follows Planning Minister Vickie Chapman’s decision on Monday to reject KIPT’s plans to build a $40m seaport on Kangaroo Island to export ti

Queensland has been propelled to the top of HIA’s Housing Scorecard for the first time since 2007.
The HIA Housing Scorecard report presents analysis which ranks each of the eight states and territories based on the performance of 13 key residential building indicators, including deta

Australia’s Regional Forest Agreements are under attack like never before. So far this year the forestry industry has had two successes in two states in cases which, had the environmental lobby been successful, had the potential to derail the RFAs Australia-wide. After failures in Vic

The Environmental Defenders Office is heading to the Federal Court to challenge a New South Wales Regional Forest Agreement. Originally signed between the Commonwealth and New South Wales in 2000, it was renewed in 2018 for another 20 years with rolling extensions that could continue

Forestry research in South Australia will get a $2 million boost with the State Government committing the funding over four years to the National Institute for Forest Products Innovation Mount Gambier centre. Source: Timberbiz Primary Industries and Regional Development Minister David

There is some hope that the recent research paper authored by six eminent forest ecology and bushfire scientists led by Professor Rodney Keenan and Professor Peter Kanowski from the ANU might go some way in shutting the hysterical blame game that logging of native forests increased th

Boral Limited has entered into an agreement with Allied Natural Wood Enterprises Pty Limited (Pentarch Group) to sell its Australian hardwood and softwood timber business for $64.5 million. Source: Timberbiz The purchase includes Boral’s nine sawmills in NSW, making Pentarch the large

Investment house AXA IM has taken control of 24,000 hectares of pine plantations straddling the border between Victoria and South Australia in a $775 million deal with US fund manager Global Forest Partners, the biggest timber transaction in the country for more than a decade. Source:

The Green Triangle region is blessed with a regular supply of rain. Mount Gambier, for example, gets around 660 mm (around 26 inches) of rain falls annually. So, it seems somewhat contradictory that the timber industry in the Green Triangle has a water problem. And not just a water pr

Urgent talks were underway this morning in a bid to get mills on the South Australian side of the Green Triangle open for business. It was hoped an exemption would be given by this afternoon. Source: Timberbiz Ten South East mills are expected to close at a cost of almost $4m a day du

The Victorian and Queensland Governments have secured a deal to share a Large Air Tanker to support aerial firefighting capacity in both states during their respective bushfire seasons. Source: Timberbiz The Bombardier Dash-8 Q400AT aircraft will operate in Queensland from September t

There is clearly widespread support for the Victorian Government’s move to overhaul the timber code of practice. The aim is to deliver certainty for conservationists, the forest industry and the Conservation Regulator. The code plays a crucial role in regulating Victoria’s native timb

The Victorian Government is advertising up to 300 Project Firefighters and Forest and Fire Operations Officer positions ahead of the upcoming bushfire season.  Source: Timberbiz Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio announced the positions with Forest Fir

Gippslanders are owed an explanation after the State Labor Government backed imported timber over the local product for a signature building project, according to the Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester. Source: Timberbiz German company Hess Timber company has been chosen over

Government is the business of give and take. It’s as simple as that, and the Victorian Government seems to be a master of it. But it can look so clumsy while doing it. At a time when it is trying to look good and do the right thing by the timber industry in Eastern Victoria while at t

Australia will see an increasing need to import timber in one form or another for at least the next couple of decades. And there’s no great resource of this product available to suddenly ship to Australia, and neither is there any great enthusiasm for Australia among importers.

Homeowners and builders in Queensland caught in the “perfect storm” of rising prices and material shortages now have access to free help to get their homes built. The Accelerated Builder/Consumer Dispute (ABCD) service went live on 1 July with free professional mediators to help frust

The timber shortage situation is not getting any better. In fact, indications are that it’s getting worse. There are reports from the Frame and Truss Manufacturers Association of Australia that some timber companies are leapfrogging fabricators and are dealing directly with builders.

New regulations that will expand the types of offences for which charities could be deregistered have been widely welcomed by the timber industry. The changes to the regulation will empower the Commissioner of the Australian Charities and Not‑for‑profits Commission (ACNC) to investiga

New regulations have been introduced which will expand the types of offences for which charities could be deregistered. The new regulations will empower the Commissioner of the Australian Charities and Not for profits Commission (ACNC) to investigate charities engaging in or promoting

So, the Bob Brown Foundation’s “Great Forest Case” has been fought, and lost. But what does this decision by the High Court to reject the foundation’s application for leave to appeal an earlier Federal Court judgement in favour of Sustainable Timber Tasmania and in general

A worldwide timber shortage has hampered a Wangaratta business’s plans to employ an additional 30 staff. Source: George Prothero, managing director of Tone Road’s Alpine Truss, said the shortage was being felt Australia-wide due to damage wrought on plantations by NSW bush

A new $4.5 million sawmill in the Adelaide Hills will be built which will increase timber supply and create local jobs thanks to a new long-term log supply agreement with ForestrySA. Source: Timberbiz KSI Sawmills, which currently operates a small mill at Nuriootpa, will build the new

Covid-19 continues to claim its victims – both medically and economically – across the world. Australia, and New Zealand, have in relative terms been lucky. Being isolated islands has helped. While the vaccines seem to be working and fatalities seem few if any at all, vigilance

Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum has lodged an application for special leave to appeal its recent loss to VicForests in the Federal Court to the High Court. The group is seeking special leave to appeal from the whole of the judgment of the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia gi

For reasons best known to themselves the opponents of VicForests have chosen to claim some sort of victory in the case involving the Leadbeaters Possum because the Federal Court only reversed a single finding relating to the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conserv

Hardware giant Bunnings has reaffirmed its boycott of VicForests timber despite the Federal Court ruling that VicForests had not broken Commonwealth environmental laws. Bunnings announced in June last year it would stop selling timber logged by VicForests after a court found the state

A “white knight” solution by the South Australian Primary Industries Minister to address the State’s chronic timber crisis demonstrates his total lack of understanding of the crisis gripping the state $16 billion building and construction industry, according to SA-Best. Source: Timber

This week’s summit in Adelaide on the dire situation the building industry finds itself in has highlighted how bad the crisis really is. John Bowen from Bowen Timber in Melbourne has already said he doesn’t know “when this craziness will end”. GCJ Constructions project manager Nathan

An emergency summit was being held in Adelaide this morning with all key housing industry stakeholders in an attempt to develop a blueprint to avoid the timber shortage crisis from worsening. Source: Timberbiz Those invited to attend the summit, organised by SA-Best MLCs Connie Bonaro

Increased focus on greater diversity in the workplace coupled with community feedback has spurred Hyne Timber to call for more female students and women to consider careers in manufacturing. Source: Timberbiz As part of a recent recruitment drive in Maryborough and Hervey Bay shopping

The causes of the nation’s current timber shortage have been widely described as “the perfect storm”. The description is probably correct. The causes have been identified as the success of Homebuilder, a spike in the price of timber exported from Australia, and delays in timber being

Eligible local Landcare groups, environment networks and community groups working on bushfire recovery projects can now access funding of approximately $50,000 in a landmark new grants program funded by the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. So

The decision by the Andrews Government to close the native forest industry highlights the need for a national fibre strategy to ensure a strategic wood supply, according to federal MP Darren Chester. Source: Philip Hopkins for Timberbiz Mr Chester, Member for Gippsland and Minister fo

A South Australian sawmill’s plight has become the epitome of the turmoil in the industry caused by fires, building supply shortages and the inequity of the Federal Government’s forestry transport assistance scheme. Morgan Sawmill, which employs 75 people in Jamestown north of Adelaid

VicForests has again been forced to defend itself over allegations that it is conducting illegal logging and putting Melbourne’s water catchment at risk. The ABC reported yesterday on alleged illegal logging in Melbourne’s Thomson dam catchment. Source: Timberbiz The ABC y

Kangaroo Island Plantation Timbers believes $32 million allocated in the Federal Budget for road funding on Kangaroo Island will be the final piece of the puzzle to clear the way for approval of its proposed KI Seaport development at Smith Bay. Source: Timberbiz The Federal funding ha

What a week it has been for the timber industry both at a local and national level. The good news just seemed to keep on coming. VicForests was vindicated by the Federal Court which determined its forestry operations covered by Regional Forest Agreements provide all the environmental

Funding to expand the Regional Forestry Hubs and a feasibility study to create a new National Institute for Forest Products Innovation has been allocated in the Federal Budget. The Budget has allocated $10.6 million to expand and continue the Regional Forestry Hubs, including new fund

VicForests today won its appeal against a Federal Court order which imposed strict conditions to stop logging of threatened species habitat in Victoria’s Central Highlands. The appeal was handed down in the Federal Court this morning. Source: Timberbiz In a unanimous decision, the Cou

The demand for timber for houses in particular is on fire. And it’s not just in Australia; it’s worldwide. In the United States prices have gone up 300% or 400%. The Canadian supply is going down fast. Source: Bruce Mitchell for Timberbiz In Australia sawmills have greatly increased p

The last log truck carrying salvaged, burnt logs from the 2019/20 bushfires was waved into the Hyne Tumbarumba Mill on Tuesday. The unprecedented, 15 months of salvage harvesting has seen more than 1.6 million burnt plantation pine logs processed at the Hyne Mill alone. The burnt bark

The closure of Victoria’s native timber industry, planned by the Andrews Labor Government, will have a massive impact on local employment and the local economy, according to the leader of the Nationals in Victoria Peter Walsh. Source: Timberbiz At the end of 2019, the Victorian Govern

The independent report commissioned by the Wellington and East Gippsland shires into the economic impact of the closure of the native timber industry in East Gippsland provides some sober reading. Source: Bruce Mitchell And it is something of a landmark document. This is no “woe is us

A recent visit to Victorian Sustainable Products by The Nationals Member for Eastern Victoria Region, Melina Bath has highlighted the value of local timber milling and manufacturing jobs. Source: Timberbiz Ms Bath visited Victorian Sustainable Products’ Fumina South mill to gain a com

Australia’s top STIHL TIMBERSPORTS athletes will be chopping and sawing at the Melbourne’s St Kilda foreshore on Saturday 8 May vying for the 2021 Australian Trophy & Australian Women’s Championship. Source: Timberbiz The Australian Trophy was the last competition in the global se

Again, the ABC has set its sights on firing shots at VicForests using any ammo it can lay hands to even if its NQR (not quite right). On 20 April the ABC published a long article based on information that was askew. It claimed that Melbourne’s drinking water was at risk from logging o

A re-elected majority Tasmanian Liberal government would partner with the Tasmanian Forests and Forest Products Network (TFFPN) to invest in the establishment of a Diversity Action Plan to increase the gender and cultural diversity of the resources sector. Source: Timberbiz Recent ind

The weekend announcement that the HomeBuilder commencement time will be extended to 18 months has been greeted as welcome news for the housing industry, the economy and for those embracing the HomeBuilder grant. There had been fears that many who applied for the $25,000 HomeBuilder gr

The anti-forestry lobby appears to be going on a war footing. The World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature-Australia has reportedly set up a legal fund for community groups to challenge development decisions in forests they say are under threat from land clearing in the aftermath of the 2019-

The South-East Queensland regional forestry hub has appointed the management team to implement and progress further development of the industry in the region. Source: Timberbiz The hub is part of a network of hubs funded by the Australian Government, with one million dollars in seed f

A protestor who put an infant’s life in danger for the sake of a media stunt at a logging site in East Gippsland has been roundly criticised by the timber industry and the Victorian Government. Source: Timberbiz Reports from the site said the protestor – believed to a member of the Go

There is an old saying, particularly in political circles, that no review or inquiry should be commissioned unless the result is known in advance. This is because, all too often, many reviews or inquiries are held to justify the position held by the commissioning authority. Source: Br

Red Stag in New Zealand has announced that it will open a new wood processing plant in a few weeks to produce CLT. It is hoped that the new plant may help alleviate the country’s timber shortage according to Red Stage group CEO Marty Verry. Source: Timberbiz The plant, says Verry, wil

The Greens leader in Tasmania Cassy O’Connor must apologise for the disgraceful public slur made this week against the State’s forestry workers on radio show Tasmania Talks, says Forest & Wood Communities Australia. Source: Timberbiz Ms O’Connor accused timber workers of carrying

The first barge load of 300 cubic metres of pine logs from the KIPT estate has been loaded aboard the Rocksea to be towed to Port Adelaide, where it will be containerised and shipped to a customer in South Korea. Source: Timberbiz KIPT Managing Director Keith Lamb acknowledged this wa

All week we’ve been following the to and fro in Tasmania where Labor believes it is supporting workers by not supporting the Liberal Party in its efforts to improve workplace protection legislation. It has cited other workers such as nurses and teachers as its concern but not forestry

The Federal Government has committed to retaining Australia’s Regional Forest Agreements and reject the Samuel Review’s criticism of them. Assistant Forestry Minister Jonathon Duniam told Senate Estimates yesterday he would not follow the recommendation of a statutory review of federa

Visitors to Timber Queensland’s head office used to be puzzled: there was no timber in sight. That paradox has now vanished, as TQ’s chief Mick Stephens noted at the opening of the new headquarters last Thursday, which was attended by more than 50 people. Source: Philip Hopkins for Ti

Shane Broad’s extraordinary attack on the Bob Brown Foundation cannot have gone down well in many quarters. In other quarters, it must have come as good news. In doing so Dr Broad, Tasmania’s Shadow Minister for Resources, well and truly nailed his colours to the mast. Source: Bruce M

Given the angst over the New South Wales SEPP plan and its impact on koalas and forestry and farming, the news this week that both sectors will be exempt must have come with a huge sigh of relief. Source: Bruce Mitchell Now land zoned for forestry or primary production in regional NSW

Land zoned for forestry or primary production in regional NSW will not be subject to the new State Environmental Planning Policy. Core rural zones in rural areas will be decoupled from the SEPP as new codes that protect koala habitat under the Local Land Services Act are developed ove

Everyone who works in Australia – actually anywhere – should have the right to expect to work in a safe environment free of risk of injury or harm – physical and/or mental. That unalienable right is even enshrined in legislation across the country. But that legislation is challenged o

Recruitment is set to commence for 50 more jobs created in Maryborough with Hyne Timber announcing a $14.5M expansion project. With demand for structural and engineered timber products on the increase, the 139-year-old, privately-owned Hyne Timber is investing for growth and increased

The University of Tasmania will require academic staff undergo training on the importance of research integrity and the disclosure of conflicts of interest. It follows the university’s investigation into the publication of a flawed study last year that linked forestry operations and b

There is an old saying that local governments should stick to handling roads, rates and rubbish and that’s it. But instead, in recent years, we have seen an increase in the number of councils across Australia and overseas involved in social, political and environmental causes. Source:

Police arrested four Bob Brown Foundation protestors in Tasmania’s Wentworth Hills on Monday after they stopped forestry activity at the site. The protestors had attached themselves to logging machinery. Source: Timberbiz It follows the arrest of two protesters at Artec’s woodch

Tasmania’s largest plantation forest manager, Forico, reaffirmed its commitment to fostering respect and transparent engagement with Tasmania’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities with the launch of its 2021-2022 Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). Source: Timberbiz Develo

In what can only be good news, timber harvesting is resuming on the South Coast of New South Wales and Eden. The news will come as a relief to the mills that have run out of logs to process and were close to laying off workers and closing. Source: Bruce Mitchell The news will also com

Forest & Wood Communities Australia has lodged an Incident Notification with WorkSafe Tasmania following the protest action at the Artec Mill on Friday. It is the second time this month FWCA has formally requested prosecutions of the Bob Brown Foundation by the work safety regulat

The latest five-storey mass engineered timber building to be constructed in Queensland topped out this week as the final prefabricated Glue Laminated Timber beams and Cross Laminated Timber panels were craned into position. Source: Timberbiz The NIOA facility extension in the Brisbane

It can be a bit hard to read the Bob Brown Foundation sometimes. At its best, the foundation is a masterful public relations manipulator. There is no doubt at about that. However, the latest “outrage” to come out of the organisation reaches new heights of audacity. Source: Bruce Mitch

  As part of International Day of Women and Girls in Science tomorrow Timber Queensland will be celebrating the work of its female scientists. Source: Timberbiz Clarissa Brandt, Strategic Relations & Communications Manager, Timber Queensland said the forest sector provided wo

The manufacturing union representing pulp and paper workers has slammed the Morrison Government for abandoning local workers during the COVID-19 jobs crisis by buying Indonesian paper instead of photocopy paper manufactured locally by Australian Paper in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley. Sou

It was a “Gotcha” moment for Bob Brown. Despite throwing almost everything it could, his Bob Brown Foundation failed in its Federal Court bid to shut down the native timber industry in Tasmania. Source: Bruce Mitchell The court in its wisdom ruled that Tasmania’s Regional

Forest & Wood Communities Australia has formally requested prosecutions of the Bob Brown Foundation by the work safety regulator WorkSafe Tasmania. Source: Timberbiz The requests, made under the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (Tas), are for the reckless and dangerous actions enga

Blair and Campbell Pty Ltd, a forest business that employs more than 10 staff in the East Gippsland area, has had to deal with uncertainty, unable to re-negotiate agreements with VicForests leaving them and their staff unable to plan for the future. Source: Timberbiz “The latest advic

South Australia had the first real bushfire of the season at the weekend. Sadly, homes and buildings were lost. Trees were lost. But it was short, sharp and brought under effective control through the efforts of Forestry SA, the CFS, crews from the Department of Environment and Water,

Trade Ministers for New Zealand and China have signed an upgrade to the free trade agreement between the two countries. New Zealand will have 98% free trade with China, its largest trading partner, once the existing free trade agreement comes fully into force. The upgrade has primaril

A large fire was burning out of control in the Adelaide Hills south east of Adelaide this morning. The blaze started about 4pm Sunday afternoon at Cherry Gardens, near the Scott Creek Conservation Park. There were reports of multiple ignition points. Source: Timberbiz It was burning i

The World Wildlife Fund seems a little confused over what logging is. Put simply, the WWF seems to have incorrectly lumped timber harvesting and private native forestry as contributing factors of deforestation and degradation. Source: Bruce Mitchell In a “shock, horror” statement, the

The local timber industry in the Snowy Valleys has been largely unaffected by the recent ban on New South Wales timber being imported to China. Source: Tumut and Adelong Times Just before Christmas, China suspended imports of timber from NSW and Western Australia, with local customs o

The World Wildlife Fund’s claims linking deforestation and forestry in Australia have been challenged by the Institute of Foresters. Source: Timberbiz “Land clearing or land-use change is when forests are converted for example to urban development and agriculture,” IFA President Bob G

There appears to be some movement in the China situation. Firstly, it appears there may be some response from China. That response – that China has notified the World Trade Organization that it will introduce new regulations covering anti-pest measures for timber imports, including th

Deputy Premier John Barilaro has ‘kissed and made up’ with Environment Minister Matt ‘Green’ Kean after taking time off on ‘stress leave’ last year. On Monday he told a reporter “I believe in climate change” and reportedly opened the door to shutting down logging of old-growth forest

Queensland’s $3.6bn timber industry is feeling the bite of Chinese trade sanctions with workers stood down and contractors racking up losses in the tens of millions of dollars. Source: Courier Mail Brisbane’s Courier Mail reported today China is virtually the only customer for Queensl

2021 seems to have got off to a reasonably good start with plans announced for a pellet plant on Kangaroo Island, a briquette plant at the Eden export facility and funding for Gippsland’s fire damaged road system. But the China problem just won’t go away. Source: Bruce Mitchell It’s C

China has still not responded to Federal Government and industry enquiries concerning contaminated log exports. Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said his department had formally written to Chinese authorities on two occasions seeking further information about detections of bark

The ABC’s Audience and Consumer Affairs Department has admitted that a recently published story made a series of errors which showed Australian forestry in a negative light. Justin Law, Managing Director of community group, Forest and Wood Communities Australia, made the complaint to

To say 2020 has been quite a year is a massive understatement. It has been a year like no other. That we appear to have come out the other end more-or-less intact is an understatement. Source: Bruce Mitchell There were too many lows this year to mention in detail or dwell upon at this

High-profile conservationist Bob Brown was arrested in Tasmania yesterday for trespassing on an active logging site. Protestors, apparently from the Bob Brown Foundation, halted logging in Tasmania’s North Eastern Tiers. Three people locked themselves onto a log loader. Source:

The effectiveness and cost of relying on water-bombing aircraft in fighting bushfires has been questioned by the Institute of Foresters of Australia and Australian Forest Growers. IFA/AGF president Bob Gordon made the call in response to the Queensland Government’s announcement of inq

The China situation worsened this week when a ban already in place on timber from Queensland and Victoria was extended to South Australia and Tasmania. Again, Chinese authorities claimed shipments were infected with pests, including bark beetle. Source: Bruce Mitchell Again, everyone

Legislation will be introduced in Federal Parliament today by Victorian Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie that will aim to provide certainty for Australia’s native hardwood timber industries. Source: Timberbiz Australian Forest Products Association CEO Mr Ross Hampton said Senator Mc

New research data backs the positive impact of buying local first and Aussie timber workers are saying thank you to all who played a part in keeping their jobs secure and their communities healthy during uncertain times. Source: Timberbiz It has been a tough year, but the Australian s

The Victorian State Government has been rightly condemned for taking so long to release timber burned in January’s bushfires in north-east Victoria and Gippsland. Yes, the burnt timber will be saved from going to waste through a grants program funded by the Federal Government and the

The Australian Forest Products Association wants the Victorian and Federal Governments to urgently co-operate to deliver new production tree plantings which would provide a boost to local jobs and post COVID-19 economic recovery while reducing emissions. Source: Timberbiz In July the

Plantation forestry participation in the Carbon Farming Initiative in south west Victoria will not cause a rapid expansion of plantation estate however, it will support the state’s emission reduction goals, a new Ernst & Young report has shown. Source: Timberbiz Ernst & Young’

Simon Gatt and his team at the new Gippsland Forest Industries Hub have a big job ahead of them. The new hub is one of 12 Regional Forestry Hubs announced by the Prime Minister Scott Morrison in February last year. Source: Bruce Mitchell The others are in Tasmania, Western Australia,

The Gippsland Forest Industries Hub has officially been launched and stands ready to contribute to the future of the forest and wood products industry in regional Victoria. The Gippsland forest and wood products industry is a dynamic and sustainable provider of regional employment in

TAFE Gippsland Timber Training Unit manager, Kevin Nunn, is now Australia’s VET Teacher/Trainer of the Year. The Bairnsdale-based teacher was announced as the winner of the VET Teacher/Trainer of the Year category in the 2020 Australian Training Awards, having secured the title of Vic

The total hard lockdown in South Australia to help prevent a second COVID-19 wave was only going to last six days. But what an impact it had in just two. And we’re not talking about having to stay home and not walk the dog or play golf. Source: Bruce Mitchell The lockdown had imposed

The Federal Government has been urged by a Portland business group to negotiate with China to ensure all Victorian timber log exports can resume as soon as possible. The call comes after China suspended the import of Victorian timber logs last week. Source: Timberbiz Chinese authoriti

Up to 500 forestry jobs could be lost in South Australia’s Green Triangle by Christmas if China’s ban on Victorian timber remains unresolved, according to the CFMEU. China is no longer accepting log exports from Victoria, citing concerns about the detection of live bark beetle in cons

So now China has placed an indefinite ban on imports of timber from Victoria. This is not surprising, and it would seem China has “legitimate” biosecurity reasons for imposing the ban. Source: Bruce Mitchell Chinese authorities claimed shipments were infected with the live bark beetle

The Australian Forest Products Association has congratulated Ed Husic on his appointment as Australia’s Shadow Agriculture Minister following the resignation this week of Joel Fitzgibbon. Source: Timberbiz AFPA CEO Ross Hampton said the AFPA looked forward to working with Mr Husic and

Reports of a ban by China on imports of Australian timber as well as lobster, copper, sugar, wine and coal mooted last week and set to begin on Saturday seems to have so far done little more than create anxiety and rumours among exposed businesses. Source: Timberbiz There were no imme

Everyone seems to be holding his or her collective breaths right now. There are lots of rumours, little real facts. Lots of speculation and predictions, but no definitive information. This applies to just about everything; the pandemic and the opening of State borders, China’s bans on

Australia’s $1.6 billion timber export business with China could come to an abrupt halt Friday after unconfirmed instructions from Chinese customs authorities. Also under threat is Australian wine, copper, barley, coal, sugar, and lobster. Source: Timberbiz The notice, distributed by

The Bushfire Royal Commission’s recommendations released Friday have been labelled as everything from underwhelming to common sense and overdue. In its report, the Commission made 80 recommendations to improve Australia’s national natural disaster arrangements. Source: Timberbiz Among

Timber Queensland has certainly put in the work in the lead-up to Saturday’s Queensland election. And in doing so, they may have set something of a benchmark for other State timber organisations to follow, if they haven’t already. Source: Bruce Mitchell By formulating a five-point pla

The Auditor-General has cast doubts on the Victorian Government’s ‘Safer Together’ bushfire policy, citing insufficient information to judge its effectiveness, while the amount of prescribed burns is well below target. Source: Philip Hopkins for Timberbiz The Auditor-Generals’ ‘Reduci

The Bush Fire Royal Commission must not simply audit and implement the last 58 inquiries, reviews and Royal Commissions on the issue, if it wants to see meaningful forest management in Australia according to the Institute of Foresters. Source: Timberbiz On the eve of the Commission br

Tumbarumba is in trouble. Big trouble. To be more specific Hyne’s Tumbarumba Mill is in trouble, and that means the entire district is in trouble. Put simply, there is just not enough timber to go around following last summer’s bushfires which decimated 40% of Hyne’s local log supply

The Queensland hardwood timber industry is concerned that rising native log exports are eroding opportunities to grow local jobs and the economic benefits generated from downstream processing and value adding. Source: Timberbiz “There are significant opportunities for growth in our ha

The Victorian State Government’s announcements around timber plantations in Eastern Victoria have been described as hollow and doing nothing for security of the local industry. Source: Timberbiz “When you have the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU), slammi

Someone needs to tell the Victorian State Government how long it takes trees to grow. In fact, someone needs to really tell the Victorian State Government about trees in general. Because as has been mentioned before, it isn’t listening. Source: Bruce Mitchell The Victorian Government

VicForests has responded to media criticism attacking its failure to be granted FSC status. VicForests reported last week results from an audit taken in November last year, but that was not completed because of the impacts of the coronavirus, remaining challenges arising from last sum

An expression of interest released by the Victorian State Government has shown the plan to transition native timber to plantation by 2030 is a false promise for those in the industry, according to Assistant Shadow Minister for Forestry Gary Blackwood. Source: Timberbiz Mr Blackwood sa

The Victorian State Government is certainly getting busy spruiking its transition plans and projects to “compensate” for its closure of the native timber industry by 2030. Last week it was a new state-owned nursery growing, apparently, Mountain Ash seedlings for bushfire affected area

Sustainable Timber Tasmania has agreed to pause forestry activity in 19 coupes in Tasmania, effective immediately. The Bob Brown Foundation launched legal action two weeks ago against STT, claiming its logging of native forests in Tasmania did not accord with the Regional Forest Agree

The Victorian State Government has committed $3.5 million to upgrades to the Maryvale rail siding in Gippsland to ensure products from Australian Paper’s Gippsland mill will continue to be sent by rail for years to come. Source: Timberiz Sleepers and ballasts will be replaced, and gro

So, the Victorian Government’s transition plan for Eastern Gippsland post the end of native timber logging in 2030 is to create a new state-owned nursery growing, apparently, mountain Ash seedlings for bushfire affected areas and then blue gum for pulp. Source: Bruce Mitchell Planning

A protest which disrupted operations at Helms forest near Nannup in Western Australia has been described as little more than a publicity stunt in the lead-up to the State elections in March next year. Source: Timberbiz Employees of a family-owned logging contractor were forced to stop

The Tasmanian forest industry’s new peak body has raised concerns that the Bob Brown Foundation’s legal action, if successful, will totally destroy forestry across all tenures (public and private land), including native forests and plantations, in the state. Source: Timberbiz “What we

The various reviews, inquires and commissions into the nation’s devastating 2019-2020 bushfires seem to be having some mixed, if not conflicting results. The South Australian Government is to be applauded for biting the bullet and committing $100 million to increase hazard reduction b

AKD will recommence operations at its Irrewarra sawmilling site to provide more Australian produced timber for customers, and to provide employment opportunities in the Colac region.  Source: Timberbiz In May because of CoVid-19, the business made the decision to idle its Irrewarra sa

At a time when good news can be a bit hard to find, Alliance Timber’s decision to extend its Dartmoor operations in the Green Triangle is a tiny ray of light. Source: Bruce Mitchell The Alliance Timber Group’s Dartmoor mill site is looking to extend its opening hours to 6am to 10pm se

Dartmoor looks set to receive a major boost with one of the area’s largest employers eyeing off a significant expansion. Source: Hamilton Spectator Alliance Timber Group is looking to significantly boost its workforce at the same time it also received two unexpected boosts from the co

VicForests has lodged its appeal in the Full Federal Court following the Federal Court’s Orders relating to the Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum case. The appeal papers were lodged late last Friday. Source: Timberbiz Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries Jonno Duniam has welcome

It’s one thing to offer a solution to a problem. It’s another thing to deliver the solution. And the Victorian Government has been caught out failing to deliver to the state’s native timber industry, again. Source: Bruce Mitchell This time it’s the revelation that rather than planting

If you’ve a timber yard, or driven past a timber truck, you’ve seen the rows upon rows of stacked timber, all cut to uniform lengths and widths. Have you ever wondered why we’re so fixated on this uniformity, rather than embracing the natural variation or ‘imperfections’ in timber tha

The family-owned 138-year-old Hyne Timber company is continuing to call for government support to direct Australian saw logs destined for China to their mill in Tumbarumba. Source: Timberbiz Chief Executive Officer Jon Kleinschmidt said employees and the community were increasingly co

So, a peer-reviewed scientific paper, written by Professor James Kirkpatrick, Suyanti Winoto-Lewin and Jenny Sanger from the University of Tasmania’s Discipline of Geography and Spatial Sciences, has been retracted from the MDPI journal Fire. The journal has apologised to its readers.

FSC Australia is under pressure over governance issues, with FSC headquarters in Germany believed to have threatened to deregister the Australian branch or appoint an administrator if the local certification body does not get its act together. Source: Philip Hopkins for Timberbiz The

A scientific paper that was the basis of an opinion piece by Professor James Kirkpatrick claiming that timber harvesting makes forests more flammable has been withdrawn from academic publication because it contains errors. Source: Philip Hopkins The peer-reviewed paper, written by Pro

The Federal and State governments, understandably, have a lot on their minds. Apart from running the country – a big enough job by any measure – they have had to handle a pandemic and in New South Wales’ and Victoria’s case the recovery from the bushfires. Source: Bruce Mitchell To th

OneFortyOne Plantations’ CEO Linda Sewell has resigned effective almost immediately. She will finish on Friday. In a statement yesterday board chairman John S Gilleland said the news came with “regret but also great respect and support for Linda in her decision”. Source: Timberbiz “Af

VicForests will move quickly to lodge an appeal now the Federal Court has finalised its Orders relating to the Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum case. Strict conditions to stop logging of threatened species habitat in Victoria’s Central Highlands were issued by the Federal Court on Frida

Last week we suggested that the conservation lobby had changed tactics in its battle to shut down the native timber industry in this country. That, it seems, was something of an understatement. Source: Bruce Mitchell To say that today’s news that the Bob Brown Foundation has launched

Tasmania’s Forest Products Association (TFPA) has backed Sustainable Timber Tasmania’s sustainable forest management practices following the public release of its Forest Stewardship Council Australia audit report, which found STT met almost all FSC indicators applicable to it. Source:

Wodonga-based national transport company SCT Logistics will transport millions of tonnes of plantation timber burnt in NSW during the summer bushfires that would otherwise go to waste, thanks to support from the Victorian Government.  Source: Timberbiz Minister for Regional Developmen

It’s an understatement to say that CoVid-19 has disrupted the entire world. No country is immune. It is of course virulent, disruptive, debilitating and deadly. It is also a distraction. Source: Bruce Mitchell Australia’s attention has been fixed on the daily press briefings detailing

More time and wider eligibility have been given to primary producers impacted by the 2019-20 bushfires to apply for the $75,000 Special Disaster Grant. Small businesses have also been given more time to request support, with time frames extended for small business bushfire recovery gr

VicForests is seeking stakeholder and community comment on its proposed Timber Release Plan (TRP) and Timber Utilisation Plan (TUP) changes. The TRP and TUP identify potential timber harvesting areas for the coming years and are being prepared as part of VicForests’ regular planning p

The protestors are back, frustrating timber industry workers in New South Wales and Western Australia and leaving others in Tasmania slightly bemused. And then there is the Wilderness Society which has taken its aim to shut down the native timber industry in Australia to the world. Th

Claims by the Bob Brown Foundation that Sustainable Timber Tasmania (STT) plan to harvest giant trees and shut the Styx road in mid-August, are a new low according to Tasmania’s Resources Minister Guy Barnett. Source: Timberbiz “Facts have never been high on the agenda for environment

Logging has been stopped at Bagawa State Forest this morning. It is the fourth time logging has been halted on the NSW Mid North Coast over the past six weeks by the Gumbaynggirr Conservation Group (GCG). Source: Timberbiz One individual is in a tree attached to two machines, effectiv

VicForests has launched a strong attack on FSC Australia, calling for the sacking of three Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) directors for allegedly breaching FSC standards and damaging FSC’s reputation, in a letter of complaint to the certification body’s international headquarters in

A former Tasmanian MP who twice voted in favour of tough anti-protest laws says she is now prepared to join the protest against Bunnings. Former Braddon Liberal member Joan Rylah, who announced her retirement on Monday morning, said on her Facebook page that “if Bunnings try to pull t

The protests this week against Bunnings’ decision to refuse to stock Victorian timber sourced from VicForests was well organised and well supported. The Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union’s blockade at Traralgon was inspired. Source: Bruce Mitchell Anyone who has e

Four log trucks this morning blocked the entrance to the Bunnings store at Traralgon in defence of forestry jobs. A Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU) statement this morning said the trucks were blocking the entrance to the Bunnings’ car park in protest of

Every year, since 2007, forestry resource managers, remote sensing, GIS and mapping specialists, inventory foresters, researchers and key technology suppliers from across Australasia attend the forestry technology series, ForestTECH. Source: Timberbiz It has now well and truly establi

Just about everyone will be, at some stage, the victim of “spin”. It’s a given. Not all spin is bad, if the benefits described by the sender of the message are real and truly add value to the receiver of the message. Source: Bruce Mitchell Spinning becomes dysfunctional when the sende

COVID-19 has meant conferences, exhibitions, seminars and symposiums have been cancelled, postponed or rescheduled. But conferences and exhibitions have an important role to play in any industry. To fill that void, Australasian Timber Magazine with Frame Australia will publish a Timbe

A world-first robotic innovation that scans and measures export logs on trucks has landed its Kiwi developers on the 2020 RBR50, Robotics Business Review’s prestigious global list recognising the 50 most innovative and transformative robotics companies of the year. Source: Timberbiz T

It probably seems a little incongruous that fire brigades are getting ready in July for the bushfire “season” some five or so months away. It’s a regular exercise. Organisations such as the Forestry Corporation of NSW each year put their firefighters through fitness tests to ensure th

The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) has welcomed the announcement by the Federal Government that it will invest in Australia’s waste and recycling capacity and help enable more wastepaper and cardboard to be recycled domestically. Source: Timberbiz The Morrison Governmen

Over the coming months, the market will start to see AKD products being wrapped in a new plastic design. AKD has always been Australian grown and made, but the company believes it is timely to ensure this is understood and prominent in its supply chain and particularly in customers’ y

What a week it has been for the timber industry, capped off by the Climate Solutions Fund decision by the Federal Government. In a nutshell, the decision will simplify access to carbon funding for new forestry projects in five regional forestry hubs, including communities hard hit by

An easing in residential construction and increased export uncertainty loom as major challenges for forestry and wood processors in the wake of summer’s bushfires and COVID-19, according to an ABARES Insights report released yesterday. Source: Timberbiz The analysis of effects of bush

VicForests is seeking feedback on the proposed changes to its Timber Release Plan. The TRP change proposes an additional 59 new coupes in the Benalla-Mansfield, North-East and Tambo Forest Management Areas. Source: Timberbiz VicForests CEO Monique Dawson says that as part of this chan

There are signs the timber industry is getting organized for a fight in Victoria. Well, better organized. The Australian Forest Products Association started the ball rolling some time ago working at times with joint media releases with the Victorian Association of Forest Industries (V

All Victoria’s processors of hardwood timber have formed a new association to fight the Victorian State Government’s decision to shut the native forest industry. The Victorian Hardwood Sawmillers Association maintains the decision will lead to huge job losses and damage or decimate th

A national study is underway to identify the wood resource characteristics of private forest estates (private native forests and farm forests) and indigenous managed forests suitable for commercial uses. Source: Timberbiz Led by the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Econom

Some great news for the timber industry in general this week has been tempered by the bad news still coming out of East Gippsland. The Buy Australian Timber First campaign sees a much-welcomed united push from all the big operators – AKD, Boral, Hyne, OneFortyOne, Timberlink and Wespi

The House Standing Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources has launched an inquiry into timber supply chain constraints in the Australian plantation sector. Australia’s forest productions manufacturing sector is worth more than $23 billion each year and currently, Australian plan

Victorian Federal Coalition MPs are seeking a meeting this week with the Environment Minister, Sussan Ley, urging her to override a Federal Court decision that threatens the future of the native forestry industry. Source: Timberbiz – Philip Hopkins Gippsland MP Darren Chester, who has

There is no escaping some issues, they resurface over and over but despite very learned reports, researched and written by very learned men and women knee jerk reactions remain – of course I am talking about our Leadbeater’s possum. Clearly cute but clearly not as endangered as we are

Forest industry icon Rob de Fegely was honoured in the Queen’s Birthday Honours with a Member of the Order of Australia for “Significant service to the forestry industry through business and advisory roles.” Source: Timberbiz Tasmanian Minister Guy Barnett congratulated Mr de Fegely s

There seems to have been wins all-round this week for foresters, the building industry, and the Australian Forest Products Association. Starting with the AFPA, it had a big win over the ABC with a complaint of unbalanced reporting and biased coverage being upheld. Source: Bruce Mitche

A complaint of unbalanced reporting and biased coverage of the Victorian Regional Forest Agreement made by AFPA has been upheld by the ABC. In early April ABC Radio Melbourne interviewed a member of the Goongera Environment Centre which was highly critical of the recently re-signed Vi

The Western Australian state government’s latest “foolhardy” experiment with outsourcing forest industry governance to activists has blown up in the face of Environment Minister Stephen Dawson. Source: Timberbiz That’s the view of the state’s peak timber industry body, the Forest Indu

It’s hard not to applaud Liberal Senator Claire Chandler’s call for the Bob Brown Foundation’s charity status to be revoked. What has irked the Tasmanian Senator is the foundation’s online funding page which seeks tax-deductible donations for its activism. This, she says, should be th

Log exports from New Zealand fell sharply in April 2020 after logging operations were suspended during alert level 4, but average prices per cubic metre picked up according to Stats NZ. Source: Timberbiz In contrast, dairy and fruit exports were strong despite fears of port congestion

A housing stimulus plan that includes $40,000 cash grants for people building a new property as its centrepiece has been released by the Master Builders Association (MBA). Current industry forecasting indicates new home building will fall by almost 50%, putting half a million jobs at

It is surprisingly hard to put into words the bastardry being inflicted on Tasmania’s mill operators. Spikes have been found in several trees at two Tasmanian sawmills leaving political parties at loggerheads over who is responsible for the industrial sabotage. Source: Bruce Mitchell

The Australian Forest Products Association has doubled down on its call for an urgent housing stimulus package with the latest Housing Industry Association forecasting, released today, showing a devastating decline in new housing construction. Source: Timberbiz The forecasting indicat

With COVID-19 front and centre of industry challenges right now and for the foreseeable future, there has never been a greater need for the latest news and information to be delivered to the forests and timber industry sectors. Ryan Media, as an independent and Australian-owned media

It’s fair to say that everyone agrees there is a lot of work to be done for Australia to come out of the CoVid-19 fog economically as well off as possible. Well, almost everyone. But more on that later. Source: Bruce Mitchell So, it’s great to see Allied Natural Wood Exports (AWNE) ha

The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) has welcomed the inclusion of $15 million in freight support for burnt timber, as part of the National Bushfire Industry Recovery Package announced today but urges more is needed to help the industry recover. Source: Timberbiz In annou

Shadow Assistant Minister for Forestry, Gary Blackwood, is calling on Victoria’s Police Minister Lisa Neville to confirm if forestry protesters will be fined under strict COVID-19 Stay-at-Home directions. Source: Timberbiz Mr Blackwood said a number of protests in recent weeks had gre

The laws, restrictions and even the recommendations introduced to combat the spread of Covid-19 are, to most intelligent people, pretty clear. Don’t leave home unless you need to. Very simply put you can go to work, you can seek medical help, you can shop, and you can exercise sensibl

The State Government in Victoria has been slammed following a report that indicates East Gippsland – because of the bushfires and Covid-19 – will be the hardest hit region economically in the coronavirus fallout. The State Opposition says the report highlights the need to retain the n

Australasia’s newest fibre packaging and paper company was launched on 1 May 2020 after Nippon Paper Industries confirmed it had successfully completed its $1.72 billion acquisition of the Orora Fibre Businesses that have been combined with Australian Paper to form Opal. Source: Timbe

It’s not hard to see the importance of the Federal seat of Eden-Monaro. It has long been held up as a bellwether seat; from the 1972 election until the 2013 election, Eden-Monaro was won by the party that also won the election. During that time, all of its sitting members were defeate

The organisers of AUSTimber 2020 have rescheduled this year’s event over CoVid-19 concerns and will now work on delivering the event in November 2021. Source: Timberbiz It was planned for April this year, and then was postponed until November because of the bushfires in the Gippsland

The global spread of COVID-19 is making the short-term outlook for Australia’s agricultural sectors increasingly uncertain according to the ABARES Impacts of COVID-19 on Australian agriculture, forestry and fisheries trade report. Source: Timberbiz ABARES Actng Executive Director, Pet

The timber industry in its various forms is justifiably nervous about the impact of the COVID-19 virus. The virus has been described as a wrecking ball for the house construction industry, with the impact hitting the timber manufacturing sector. Source: Bruce Mitchell Manufacturers of

The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) is forecasting a “calamitous decline” in housing construction and says an urgent recovery package is needed. The AFPA is calling on Australia’s leaders to urgently put in place a stimulus recovery package for the sector to counter the

John Deere Construction and Forestry Equipment has a new home at two of New Zealand’s most respected machinery dealers to bring a greater range of sought-after machinery and cutting-edge technology to operators and contractors across the country. Source: Timberbiz From 1 July, the ful

For almost four weeks now, pubs, cinemas, restaurants, and indoor sports have been closed. Concerts, festivals, sports, weddings have been cancelled. Churches are closed. Only 10 people can attend funerals. We all seem focused on COVID-19 as we should be. But life does go on. Source:

Australia’s new house building pipeline appears to be stable in mid-April, with construction work able to continue in most situations. The rush by builders to complete work to the next payment stage, over concern of an imminent sector or site closure is reportedly following through th

People illegally cutting down protected redgum and stringybark trees from Green Triangle plantations are being warned the ‘forest is watching’. Police and forest landowners have joined forces to target reckless wood thieves who are fearlessly entering privately owned forestry estates

NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons is stepping down as head of the volunteer organisation to take on a new government role. Source: Timberbiz Mr Fitzsimmons was RFS Commissioner for 12 years and his decision to leave comes after overseeing an unprecedented 2019-2020

This week marked the official end to the most devastating bush fire season in New South Wales’ history. Nationally the fire season, which is still in force in Victoria and South Australia, was unprecedented in terms of conditions experienced, the loss of lives and property, and the th

The peak associations representing Victoria’s sustainable native timber industries have cautiously welcomed today’s announcement of the Regional Forest Agreements extension, but still believe considerable uncertainty surrounds the Andrews Government’s plan to close down the industry b

Claims have been made by the Wilderness Society that paper Australians are printing on is produced from illegally sourced wood taken from Victoria’s state forests. In particular, the Wilderness Society has claimed that Nippon-owned Australian Paper has illegally processed more than ha

If a week is a long time in politics, then 24 hours is an even longer time in a world effectively shut down by COVID-19. There is the occasional trickle of good news, but that is rare. This current crisis comes on the heels of the devastating bushfires during December and January and

Australia’s timber mills are continuing to operate during the COVID-19 lockdown as normal and will do so until ordered otherwise. Building sites have been already been deemed essential activities by the Federal Government, spared from the tight restrictions placed on restaurants, pubs

A number of substantial challenges confront the timber industry in Australia and in New Zealand. Daily Timber News, and Timberbiz, have been challenged in covering the Victorian Native Timber decision, the State Environmental Planning Policy (Koala Habitat Protection) issue in New Sou

We have all become almost immune to government inertia at nearly every level. But some governments – well, one in particular – seem to have made an art form out of it. If you could call it art. To quote Yes, Minister it’s more the art of jiggery-pokery. Source: Bruce Mitchell The Oppo

Australian Sustainable Hardwoods has commissioned its new $3 million timber manufacturing plant in Heyfield. The centrepiece of the new plant at ASH’s Greenmill in Firebrace Road is a high-strain twin band resaw, which uses German sawing technology to maximise the amount of useable ti

The Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements has begun receiving public submissions. Individuals, organisations, community groups and the broader community can make a submission about the 2019-20 bushfire season by telephone or online. Source: Timberbiz The Federal

Central Victoria’s first planned burn of 2020 will take place on Wednesday in the first of about 30 burns planned before next season’s fire danger period. Forest Fire Management Victoria will burn 81 hectares two kilometres to the west of St Arnaud at the town’s Towe

Victorian Government MPs will face flying pickets, mass community meetings and rolling stoppages as timber workers ramp up their campaign to highlight the turmoil facing the industry. The crisis facing the forestry sector escalated last week after a court injunction halted harvesting

In a week when the industry as a whole seemed to take a deep breath, there were three or four events of note. In Tasmania, the State Government has made a clear and bold decision to legislate for mechanical fuel reduction to tackle bushfires. Source: Bruce Mitchell Premier Peter Gutwe

The ACCC will not oppose the proposed acquisition of Orora Fibre by Australian Paper. Australian Paper is the only independent, non-vertically integrated, domestic supplier of certain paper packaging inputs made from kraft fibre. Source: Timberbiz Following the proposed acquisition, i

Victorian taxpayers will pay $200 million to the privately-owned Australian Paper in Maryvale to try to shield workers from a state ban on native forest logging, according to the Herald Sun newspaper in Melbourne. Source: Herald Sun The secret deal between the Andrews Government and A

So much is happening, and the scene is changing daily from so many different directions. It can be difficult to keep up, but here we go. It is clear the Coronavirus, or perhaps more accurately the COVID-19 virus, cannot be ignored by Australia’s timber industry. By Bruce Mitchell Whil

The Bob Brown Foundation has lodged a court appeal against a ban on forest protests. Worksafe Tasmania boss Mark Cocker last week issued a ban on protest activities deemed to be a safety risk until further notice, with the threat of potential fines up to $500,000. Source: Timberbiz Th

The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) and Forest Industries Association of Tasmania (FIAT) have welcomed the Work Health and Safety Regulator’s “common-sense decision” to order the Bob Brown Foundation to cease all illegal forestry protests, which have endangered lives and

So, there is to be a Royal Commission in the summer’s exhausting bushfire. That’s got to be a good thing, right? There is so much to be explored by the Royal Commission which, as the Prime Minister Scott Morrison promised in January, will be quick. Not a long-winded, strung-out junket

Adrian O’Connell, Standards Australia’s Chief Executive Officer and Karen Andrews MP, Minister for Industry, Science and Technology announced a joint funding agreement for access to AS 3959:2018, Construction of buildings in bushfire-prone areas, for all Australians. This jointly fund

The Victorian Government is in talks to sell its $61 million share in the Heyfield mill in Gippsland. The State Government bought a minority share in the privately-owned Heyfield mill in 2017 after the then-owner threatened to close its doors. Source: Timberbiz Deputy Premier James Me

To paraphrase former US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, the timber industry in Australia and New Zealand currently have some known knowns, and some unknown unknowns. To put it another way, the timber industry hopes it has a future, it just isn’t certain of what that future looks

The Victorian State Government is still refusing to release bushfire fuel load maps for Victoria, despite an order from State Parliament to make the documents public. The maps, published in August, show the build-up of fuel loads across East Gippsland and North East Victoria. Source:

VicForests has committed to the continued support of 10 contractors and 90 workers who have been impacted by a force majeure notice because fires have meant timber supply cannot be guaranteed in the foreseeable future from East Gippsland. Source: Timberbiz Almost all – estimated to be

There is now no denying it. The Victorian timber industry is under siege from all fronts. Even VicForests seems to have turned against it. By Bruce Mitchell This week alone has seen: Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews hint that the Government “may well have to revise” its plan to shut d

The operator of a private farm near Portland in Victoria, where at least 40 koalas have reportedly died and 80 others were reportedly found injured, has defended his management of the property, as Victoria’s state government launches an investigation into the incident. Source: Timberb

Kangaroo Island Plantation Timber’s (KIPT) managing director John Sergeant is disappointed that the island’s mayor Michael Pengilly is criticizing the timber industry rather than working with it to create that future. Mr Sergeant was commenting on an item on the ABC’s Landline program

South Buchan logging contractor Reece Reynolds has been putting in 11-hour days to help contain the fires which continue to threaten East Gippsland. He is one of many forestry contractors who have put their machines to work around the clock in the effort to clear roads, remove hazardo

High Country Truss & Frames and Dahlsens have also joined the efforts to help with the bushfire recovery in New South Wales and Victoria respectively. Source: Timberbiz Owners David and Elizabeth van der Plaat from High Country Truss & Frames have been helping transport feed t

Leading forest and ecosystem scientists from the University of Melbourne have backed the scientific merit of forest thinning to reduce the risk and severity of bushfires in Australia, refuting the strident activist voices demanding Australia make no change to its fuel reduction strate

Alpine Truss Wangaratta has donated $15,000 to assist with bushfire recovery in North East Victoria, some of which will go towards stationery packs to help children get back to school. Basic necessities such as the back to school packs for children will take a load off parents’

This week’s decision to postpone AUSTimber2020 until November because of the devastating bushfires in East Gippsland has been met with wide-spread industry and community support. The decision to reschedule AUSTimber2020 from April required careful consideration of the impact on commit

Firefighters in Eastern Australia are capitalising on calmer weather conditions forecast for the rest of this week with authorities still unable to accurately assess the damage to harvestable timber stocks. Source: Timberbiz In Victoria, where fires have burned an estimated 1.2 millio

Pressure is mounting on State governments to better manage national parks through hazard reduction burning and selective logging, to avoid a repeat of the bushfire crisis sweeping the nation. Fires yesterday in extreme conditions continued to threaten areas in south eastern  NSW, east

There are fears two massive bushfires burning on the NSW-Victorian border could join in coming days, creating one massive fire front. CFA state response controller Gavin Freeman said there was a “real potential” the fires burning along the state border could combine. The Corryong fire

Tens of thousands of voters in regional Victoria have received robocalls over the past 48 hours, highlighting Labor’s betrayal of timber workers, their families and timber communities. Source: Timberbiz The calls feature a timber worker and Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and En

The peak industry bodies representing scores of businesses that employ thousands of men and women in the front line to be impacted by Premier Andrews’ poor policy announcement to shut down Victoria’s native timber industry are seriously questioning the government’s commitment to engag

A $20.35 million road funding grant applied for by the Softwoods Working Group (SWG) under the NSW Government’s Growing Local Economies Program has been successful. SWG Chair Peter Crowe said the grant was tremendous news for the regional economy. Source: Timberbiz The $20.35 million

The Victorian State Government has been slammed for its appalling devaluation of native timber industry workers. The Nationals Member for Eastern Victoria Region Melina Bath said a State Government statement boasted Labor’s funding of $744 million for level crossings in Edithvale, Che

VicForests is inviting the community to learn more about proposed changes to the Timber Release Plan (TRP) 2019 at an Open House in Traralgon on 11 December 2019. Regular revision of the TRP is an important part of VicForests’ routine planning for timber harvesting in Victoria’s east.

Federal Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Resources Joel Fitzgibbon has strongly backed Victoria’s native forest industries as sustainable, this is at odds with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews who plans to shut it down. Source: Timberbiz Speaking at the Australian Forest Products A

At the protest rally held in Melbourne on Tuesday 26 November outside Parliament House, the leader of the Victorian opposition, Michael O’Brien, stated that he would instigate an inquiry into the closing down of the native forestry industry in Victoria. The proposed Legislative Counci

  Victoria’s opposition leader, Michael O’Brien speaking at the first of what may be many such protests, stated that he would put the facts on the table about native forestry in Victoria and his party would push for an upper house inquiry in 2020. The proposed Legislative Council

Representatives from Gippsland’s native timber industry have agreed to fight for the future of the industry and are calling for an urgent meeting with the State Premier following a meeting in Bairnsdale this week with local, state and federal government representatives. Source: Timber

Not surprisingly no Victorian Labor politician showed his face at the Victorian Association of Forestry Industries (VAFI) awards dinner held on Friday 15 November in Melbourne. However, the number of opposition politicians was impressive including long time timber industry supporter M

The Andrews Government in Victoria on Wednesday voted down a motion in State Parliament seeking support for the native timber industry. The Nationals Member for Eastern Victoria Region Melina Bath who raised the motion said the Andrews Government would go down as the most anti-regiona

Corryong sawmill operator and pallet manufacturer Graham Walker received a letter in October from Victoria’s Minister for Regional Development, Agriculture and Resources Jaclyn Symes good enough to take to the bank. In fact, he did. The letter recommended he continue to work with VicF

Yesterday’s announcement that native timber logging in Victoria will be phased out by 2030 has left the industry in shock and people in regional areas such as Gippsland reeling.The State Government in Victoria revealed its plans yesterday for the current level of native timber availab

Logging of native trees will be phased out in Victoria by 2030. Source: Timberbiz The State Government in Victoria revealed its plans today for the current level of native timber available for logging to be reduced from 2024-25. It has been reported a financial assistance package for

OneFortyOne’s Jubilee Sawmill has been recognised for its commitment to the timber industry with the Supreme Timber Industry Award at the Green Triangle Timber Industry Awards (GTTIA). Source: Timberbiz In front of a sell-out 500-plus audience on Friday night Jubilee Sawmill – OneFort

Victoria’s Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio has been urged to read and use data from a Gippsland Youth Symposium’s Future of our Forests report. But State MLC Melina Bath, who represents Victoria’s eastern region, said she did not expect the Minister to read the document. So

An Australian forest industries delegation to Japan accompanying the Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries Senator Jonathan Duniam will build a stronger relationship and help expand the market for high-quality Australian forest products, Chief Executive Officer of the Australi

OneFortyOne (OFO) has made its submission to the SA Legislative Council Select Committee on Matters Relating to the Timber Industry in the Limestone Coast. Chief executive officer, Linda Sewell, stated that the company had responded to the question of whether the export of wood fibre

The Annual Australian Timber Design Award winners for 2019 were announced recently in Melbourne and fitzpatrick + partners claimed first prize for their stunning Castlecrag home aptly named The Seed House. Source: Timberbiz The Seed House blends in seamlessly with the surrounding bush

Responsible Wood, Australia’s largest forest certification scheme, has announced that the University of South Australia’s Mount Gambier Campus will be hosting its Annual General Meeting next Tuesday, 22 October 2019. Source:  Timberbiz Responsible Wood will be awarding the coveted Ric

Nippon Paper Industries (Nippon Paper) has announced an agreement with Orora Limited to acquire its Australia and New Zealand fibre packaging division. The contract was signed following the Nippon Paper board of directors meeting held in Tokyo, Japan. The purchase will be subject to f

Concerns have been raised by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) over a proposed sale of Tasmanian hardwood plantations owned by Resource Management Service to New Forests and Global Forest Partners. Source: Timberbiz Resource Management Service has made its plan

Young people in Gippsland came together last week for a regional symposium on the future of our forests. Organised by Shadow Assistant Minister for Public Land and The Nationals Member for Eastern Victoria Region, Melina Bath, the day was an opportunity for young Gippslanders to have

The Victorian State Government has cancelled its community consultation process into reforms to the code of practice for timber production. State Environment Minister Lily D’Ambosio took the odd step of announcing the community engagement on the code through a release on Twitter. Sour

The Forest Industries Association of Tasmania (FIAT) has made no request for access to log native Tasmanian forests despite reports of a potential short-fall in supply. FIAT acting chief executive Terry Edwards said all the industry has requested was an assessment of 357,000ha of fore

A new report by the World Green Building Council (WGBC) has highlighted the huge potential of timber product building solutions to reduce emissions in Australia’s built environment. Source: Timberbiz The report, Bringing Embodied Carbon Upfront, says renewable timber products will pla

VicForests has launched a radical policy on native forest operations that involves revised harvesting and regeneration techniques as part of its campaign to achieve FSC certification. The policy centres on preserving “high conservation value” (HCV) native forest and removing perceived

Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA) is working to uncover new opportunities in the detached housing market, with the development of a technical extension program that will encourage the use of wood products in residential Class 1 properties.  Source: Timberbiz The recently launc

A new approach to tech transfer and skills development was delivered through a workshop to help the softwood sector improve its understanding of how to better use the massive quantities of data collected during mill operations, with a view to improving processing activities. Source: T

Record temperatures globally over the past few years have generated unprecedented high Forest Fire Danger Index conditions. These conditions have extended the duration of the traditional fire season in many regions and, of more concern, have been the catalyst for losses in regions not

The NSW Government is looking at the “viability” of a long-term lease of the State’s commercial softwood plantation business, consistent with its asset recycling strategy. Forestry Corporation’s profitable softwood division consists of around 230,000 hectares of radiata pine forests p

Margules Groome Consulting’s Rob de Fegely has been awarded the NW Jolly Medal for his services to the Australian forest industry at an Australian and New Zealand Institute of Forestry conference in Christchurch. Source: Timberbiz Mr de Fegely is also chairman of Sustainable Timber Ta

The Victorian Association of Forest Industries Inc. (VAFI) has called for immediate action from the State Government after a protest in a timber harvesting coupe in Kinglake has again stopped forest contractors from making a living. Source: Timberbiz VAFI CEO, Tim Johnston, said the G

The Australian public must be protected through safe, compliant buildings and that will only be achieved through buy-in by everyone involved in the building and construction industry and with everyone being accountable for their own work, a NSW upper house inquiry has been told. Sourc

Up to 4500 hectares of red gum forest, fringing creeks, wetland and habitat will be replenished over the next 60 days thanks to a planned watering event in the Koondrook and Perricoota State Forests. Source: Timberbiz Forestry Corporation of NSW’s The Living Murray Program Manager for

The Queensland State Government has been urged to reject an “absurd, outrageous and highly destructive proposal to close our pine plantations”. Gympie MP and opposition spokesman for agricultural industry development and fisheries and forestry Tony Perrett was responding to a proposal

Sustainable timber harvesting is not a significant threat to koalas in New South Wales, a State Government inquiry has been told. The Forestry Corporation of NSW told the Inquiry into koala populations and habitat in New South Wales last week that known threats to koala populations ar

Western Australia has joined Tasmania to become the second state government to adopt a state-wide Wood Encouragement Policy (WEP). A WEP requires responsibly sourced wood be considered, where feasible, as the primary construction material in all new-build and refurbishment projects. S

An intergovernmental report on climate change released late last week highlights the need for a whole-of-landscape approach to tackling climate change, and the vital role the agriculture and forestry sector can play in reducing emissions and storing carbon, according to Climate Proofi

Australian Paper is moving ahead with its five-year, $200 million capital investment program at its Maryvale paper mill in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley. The company committed $51 million in the second year of the program to upgrade key strategic infrastructure, according to AP’s 2018 Sus

A big deficit in the supply of hardwood woodchips is expected in the Asia-Pacific in the next three-to-five years, with demand in China, already the world’s biggest importer, expected to continue growing, according to Australian forestry giant Midway Group. Source: Philip Hopkins for

People in Victoria’s regions are far more interested maintaining jobs and economic opportunities from the state’s forests than people in the city, according to early feedback from the Future of Our Forests program. The RFA modernisation process is an integral part of the program. Sour

Russia is emerging as a major timber exporter that could potentially swamp markets in Australia and New Zealand, a forestry conference has been told. Dennis Nielson, director of NZ-based consultancy DANA, said Russia as a country was overwhelming in its scale, with a forestry industry

The Australian forestry market remains attractive to international investors despite a few headwinds, according to Hancock’s Australasian chief, Bill McCallum, who also signalled that an integrated timberland/farmland investment strategy expanded the opportunities for investors. Sourc

Careful planning is aiming to ensure the mistakes of the past in establishing plantations and farm forestry are not repeated, the new federal Minister for Forests, Jonathon Duniam, said yesterday. Senator Duniam, speaking to a DANA conference in Brisbane, reiterated the Government’s s

Big River has started on its global expansion strategy to better serve its customers across the Tasman and grow its business in the plywood and specialty segments in New Zealand with the acquisition of Plytech, Auckland and Decortech in Penrose, Auckland. Source: Timberbiz “Plytech an

Building industry groups have signed a joint call for urgent Australia-wide action on building regulations. The letter, signed by the Property Council of Australia, the Insurance Council of Australia, Ai Group and the Australian Construction Industry Forum, says Australia’s fragmented

A market research company is visiting country towns in Victoria to test the water on the public’s reaction to shutting down the native timber industry. The most recent of several events was in Maryborough on Wednesday night. Others are understood to have taken place in Shepparton and

The RFA modernisation paper understates the existing levels of protection for biodiversity in Victoria and misrepresents the role of the state’s native forest timber industry, according to the Institute of Foresters of Australia (IFA). Source: Philip Hopkins for Timberbiz The paper bo

Western Australia has launched a plan that sets a new strategic direction for the state’s forestry industry based on local Aborigines’ spiritual outlook. The state’s Wood Encouragement Policy is a key part of what is called the Djarlma Plan, which was inspired by Djarlma – the N

VEAC’s estimate of $270 million in economic value driven by forest protection in Victoria’s Central West is a mathematical fantasy that ignores real money from a functioning timber industry, according to a regional-based forestry group. The South East Timber Association (SETA) said in

The Victorian Environment Assessment Council (VEAC) has been accused of ignoring its legal obligations with its final report into Victoria’s Central West, while the forestry industry has condemned its recommendations. The VEAC report, released last week, dramatically cut the timber in

Australia’s forestry industry continues to show signs of growth according to a new report released by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARES). Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries, Senator Jonathon Duniam, said the report’s findings were great ne

The Australian construction industry needs to focus more on industry skilling and the enabling of modern construction enterprise capability, a leading construction industry expert has warned. Source: Timberbiz Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Smart Modern Construction at Western Sy

Offsite construction in Australia, despite the hype, is wallowing in disillusionment, with some prominent failures undermining confidence in the sector, according to one of Australia’s leading construction experts. Source: Philip Hopkins for Timberbiz “Despite all the hype, 20 years i

Timber industry stalwart Paul Madden from Barham on the Murray River has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday 2019 Honours List for his service to primary industry and to the community of the Riverina. Source:  Timberbiz Mr Madden is general m

The inaugural chairman of Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA), Ronald Adams, has been recognised with an Order of Australia on the Queen’s Birthday 2019 Honours List for his career-long contributions to benefiting Australia’s forestry and wood sector as well as the communi

A new forestry advertising campaign with the logo, ‘Wood: The Ultimate Renewable’, is set to hit the screens, not just as a re-invigorated branding, but as a strategic reframing and an organising idea for the whole forestry sector. The campaign, launched in Melbourne on Tuesday night,

Forestry deals in Australia and New Zealand over the past 20 years have totalled up to $18 billion, according to a leading forestry analyst. Managing director Indufor Asia-Pacific (Australia), Andrew Morton, said the value of 93 transactions in Australasia over the 20-year period was

Senator Jonathan Duniam, the new assistant federal minister in charge of forestry, was a senior member of Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman’s staff during the development of the new Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement. Senator Duniam grew up in the north-west of Tasmania and went to univ

Australia’s forest industries congratulate the new Minister for Agriculture, Victorian Senator Bridget McKenzie and Assistant Minister with responsibility for Forestry and Fisheries, Tasmanian Senator Jonathon Duniam. Source: Timberbiz “Prime Minister Morrison’s new Cabinet demonstrat

New Zealand’s Wellbeing Budget will enable further transformation of the country’s forestry sector after the successful rollout of the Government’s One Billion Trees program, according to Forestry Minister Shane Jones. The NZ government has called it the Wellbeing Budget as it says it

Advanced technology to map Victoria’s forests is being used as part of the State Government’s plans to modernise forest management, particularly for the Regional Forest Agreements. The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DEWLP) has acquired Victoria’s largest ever acq

South Australia’s Liberal Government says that it successfully delivered a positive forestry inquiry despite a negative, divisive approach by the Labor Opposition according to Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development Tim Whetstone. Source: Timberbiz “The Shadow Ministe

The State Government of South Australia has appointed BDO Advisory (SA) Pty Ltd to undertake an independent audit on the Plantation Lease Agreement with OneFortyOne Plantations Pty Ltd. Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development Tim Whetstone said BDO has partnered with

Both major political parties have committed to spend more on forestry research and development to reverse the plunge in both industry R&D spending and the number of research scientists over the past decade. Source: Philip Hopkins for Timberbiz R&D was a key theme of last week’

The Federal Government will provide $500 million in low interest loans to plantation growers if it is re-elected as part of its plan to dramatically expand plantations in Australia. However, the Government’s backtracking on allowing farm forestry and plantations full access to the Emi

The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) has welcomed Federal Labor’s policy package, which agrees to several AFPA policy priorities to grow Australia’s renewable forest industries. Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) CEO Ross Hampton said there were three key commi

The Forest Industries Election Debate run by AFPA will be an important policy debate ahead of the Federal Election, focusing entirely on policy that directly affects Australia’s full value chain of forest industries. Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Richard Colbe

Veteran firefighter Ewan Waller has called for fuel reduction burning to be an integral part of a visionary, long-term policy for managing fire in the forest. His thoughts were prompted by the recent fires in Gippsland and his memories of the Black Saturday inferno when he experienced

In a boost to Australian paper manufacturing, the Federal Government has imposed duties on copy paper imports from four countries after finding the countries have been dumping A4 copy paper onto the Australian market. The Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Kevin Andrews, a

Victoria’s native forest industry would be closed to generate carbon credits under the Victorian Regional Forest Agreements in a proposal pushed by the state’s Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Lily D’Ambrosio. The potential move has been strongly criticised as misunderstan

“Despite reports in ‘The Guardian’, the beekeeping industry wishes to work collaboratively with the forestry industry and state governments to ensure access to resources in state forests,” he said in a statement. “ALL values and uses of the forests need to be recognised throughout Aus

The Western Australian Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) has been extended for another 20 years with an annual sustainable yield of at least 191,000 cubic metres of high-quality jarrah and karri saw logs. The landmark RFA agreement for WA’s $1.4 billion was signed on Friday by the Prime

Sustainable Timber Tasmania (STT) has launched a process to gain certification for its forestry activities from the Forest Stewardship Council. SCS Global Services will conduct an audit of STT’s forestry practices, starting on 20 May, against the new FSC Australian Forest Stewardship

Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Nationals, Michael McCormack, has backed a Regional Forestry Hub in the South West Slopes (Tumut-Tumbarumba region) of southern NSW. In a letter released by the South West Slopes’ Softwoods Working Group (SWG), the Deputy Prime Minister expresse

A $30 million federal government farm biodiversity program that includes potential carbon benefits for tree planting has been backed by the forest industry and Labor Party. Under the $30 million pilot Agriculture Biodiversity Stewardship Program, farmers could receive incentives for p

The peak forestry body in New South Wales says the election of the Coalition Government has removed the threat from the proposed new koala national park but much work remains to be done. Timber NSW General Manager Maree McCaskill said the proposed Great Koala National Park in northern

The Australian Liberal National Government is delivering $200,000 for two new education initiatives in partnership with Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA) to educate the next generation to help the industry thrive into the future. Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Re

Uncertainty over the future of Victoria’s native forest industry has deepened as more sites of the official “critically endangered” Leadbeater’s Possum have been found, and negotiations continue over the East Gippsland forest set aside for industry where the Andrews Government designa

The New South Wales Codes of Practice and controls governing private native forest ignore long-term ecological sustainability, and are too complex and should be simplified, with the over-regulation sending a message of lack of trust, according to the state’s peak forestry body. The ch

Forestry experts have described as “a weak rant” and “gross misrepresentation” arguments by Fairfax economics editor Ross Gittins that the native forest industry in Central Gippsland is uneconomic and deprives Melbourne of huge amounts of water through logging of water catchments. Mr

According to Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, Senator Richard Colbeck the outlook for the forest, seafood and horticulture sectors is bright despite clear risks, with continued growth in Australia and overseas providing new markets and opportunities. That was th

Bushfires now in Victoria and previously in Tasmania have had a devastating affect not only on forestry but also and more importantly livelihoods, livestock and lives with firefighters in Victoria currently building containment lines around fires burning east of Melbourne before “gust

New South Wales Government Minister for Forestry Paul Toole announced that the Government is investing almost $40 million to support innovation and training for NSW’s forestry industry and has allocated $4.6 million to support the development of a training and certification scheme for

Two forestry scientists have harshly criticised “false science” and its links to environmental activism as completely distorting the truth about the native forestry industry and the endangered status of the Leadbeater’s Possum. Forestry consultant and author Mark Poynter and Mike Ryan

About 150 million tonnes of carbon are stored in Australian wood products, clear felling only makes up 9% of native forest harvesting, and forest activities pose relatively little danger to threatened species. Those are some of the conclusions of Australia’s State of the Forests 2018

Forestry ministers from the Commonwealth, the states and territories met in Melbourne on 15 February 2019 at the Forestry Ministers Meeting to discuss ways to continue to support Australia’s forestry industries. There was one similar meeting in June last year and three in 2017.

International House in Sydney, the first commercial office building in Australia made from timber, has won a major award at the World Architecture Festival in Amsterdam. The seven-floor structure, which is also the world’s tallest commercial building made from engineered wood, was awa

The Ta Ann Mill at Southwood and its surrounding plantations were a high priority for firefighters following widespread fire in the Huon Valley last week. There was some superficial damage to buildings as an ember attack in the wake of the fire front damaged a skylight and entered the