Maryborough in Queensland will show its support for the native forestry industry this Sunday with its Hardwood is Good event to be held at the Granville Soccer Club in Banana Street. The event will be attended by a number of state politicians and senior industry officials. The industry is in danger of collapse. Source: Timberbiz
The event is being held to show support and concern for the 2000 jobs that rely on South East Queensland’s native hardwood timber industry. State members for Gympie, the Hon Tony Perrett and member for Maryborough the Hon Bruce Saunders will attend the event that starts at 11.30am.
Industry heavyweights – Mick Stephens CEO of Timber Queensland, Michael Guerin CEO of AgForce, Sean Ryan CEO of PFSQ will also attend.
The community is expected to attend in its hundreds as the industry is a major employer in the area both directly and indirectly and without a guarantee of long-term timber supply there is a significant risk of industry collapse, mill closures and job losses across the region.
Under the South-East Queensland Forest Agreement (SEQFA) the supply of state-owned native sawlogs is to cease from 2024, which assumes an adequate resource from plantations and private native forests will replace it.
However, with insufficient development of the private native forest resource and the inadequacy of the plantation resource as a substitute, there is no long-term resource security for the industry beyond 2024.
