Member for Barker Tony Pasin is encouraging stakeholders in the Limestone Coast to make a submission to the Federal Government’s inquiry into supply chain constraints in the Australian plantation sector.
The House Standing Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources has launched the inquiry and will be accepting submissions until Monday, 17 August.
Mr Pasin said Australia’s forest products manufacturing sector is worth more than $23 billion per year with room to grow.
“Currently, Australian plantations are unable to fully meet the sector’s demand for timber, resulting in more than 900 million cubic metres of sawn softwood being imported each year,” Mr Pasin said.
“Within South Australia alone the forest industries employ more than 10,000 people across the supply chain, more than 7,400 of these are in Barker. This is a major employer in our region and it has room to grow and create more jobs.”
The Committee has been asked to inquire and report on:
- the nature of wood supply from Australia’s plantation sector including:
o Projected timber volumes available over the next 30 years and the potential grades of logs available.
- The plantation wood supply available for domestic softwood processors including:
o Current and future demand for logs for domestic processors; and
o Any shortfall in current processing industry demand for logs.
- The competitiveness of log pricing between domestic and export market.
- The term of log supply contracts needed to support the processing sectors.
- Opportunities to increase Australia’s wood supply, including identifying and addressing barriers to plantation establishment.
- The role that state governments could have in assisting in addressing any problems identified by the work of this committee.
Make any recommendations around any code of conduct or management mode that could assist in addressing any problems identified by the work of this committee.
“The local industry here in Barker is not just important for local jobs and our local community but the national supply chain and our national economy. I’m encouraging local stakeholders to make a submission to this inquiry to ensure our views on the sector are heard,” Mr Pasin said.
The Committee is accepting submissions to the inquiry until Monday, 17 August 2020. For further information on making a submission please visit the inquiry website.
