The state Opposition has accused the government of attempting to send regional sawmillers broke by increasing the cost of sawlogs under its plan to make Forestry Tasmania more profitable.
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But Resources Minister Guy Barnett says the increase would be transitioned in over the next two to five years and bring the prices in line with what the logs would fetch on the mainland.
In Parliament yesterday, Opposition Leader Bryan Green said that the timber industry did not support the government’s plan to enter into 357,000 hectares of reserve for logging in 2018 nor its plan to charge more for wood supply.
He said businesses had already been subjected to a previous 30 per cent increase for logs and the new hit would undermine the industry’s ability to flourish.
“Sawmills will not be able to cope with the increased prices and that would mean that people will actually lose their jobs,” Mr Green said.
He said the opening up of reserve areas would hamper Forestry Tasmania’s ability to sell timber to international buyers seeking Forest Stewardship Council-certified products.
Mr Barnett said the options were to cut back log supply by 25 per cent, risking an estimated 700 jobs statewide, or increase the price which was 50 per cent lower than what was paid on the mainland.
“It will be challenging for those sawmillers,” he said.
“It will be tough, but over time they have that resource security.
“There will be an increase over time because we want to get rid of the taxpayer subsidies.”
Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said she believed that the FSC auditors did not know about the government’s plan to have the 357,000 hectares of high-conservation forest logged after Mr Barnett refused to specifically address the question in Parliament.
“Forestry Tasmania’s chances of getting FSC certification are surely becoming increasingly remote,” she said.
“Ultimately you cannot, as a government, allow logging in high-conservation forests – forests that were set aside to be reserved – restart conflict, and hope to get Forest Stewardship Council certification.”
Meanwhile, the government appears to have taken heart over a ReachTEL poll of state forestry practices, commissioned by the Wilderness Society.
In Parliament, Guy Barnett said 40.6 per cent of the more than 1200 Tasmanians polled said they thought that the government had a clear plan for the problems facing the Tasmanian forest industry and that 61.2 per cent wanted resource security.
But Wilderness Society spokesman Vica Bayley said the poll showed that less than one in four Tasmanian, and less than 40 per cent of Liberal voters, support the plan to reverse reserves and log them.
“Forest Minister Guy Barnett has continued his creative interpretation of all things forestry with a delusional interpretation of Wilderness Society poll results to try spin support for his proposition to log high-conservation-value forest reserves,” he said.
"Logging reserves is a stupid plan that will undermine market confidence, condemn Forestry Tasmania to continued FSC failure and reignite a conflict most Tasmanian's have moved on from.”
The poll also asked participants about their first-preference votes should an election be held on that day with 41.6 per cent responding Liberal, 26.8 per cent responding Labor, and 13 per cent responding the Greens.