Member for Barker Tony Pasin joined the Federal Parliament’s Standing Committee on Agriculture and Water’s inquiry into the timber supply chain.
Mr Pasin said Australia’s forest products manufacturing sector is worth more than $23 billion per year with room to grow and that this inquiry will look into issues facing the forestry sector that may be inhibiting its growth.
“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 industry is not just important for local jobs and our local community here in Barker but our national economy. While there are many issues facing different facets of the industry, plantations, contractors and processors, this inquiry will support future policy settings to address these issues across the nation.
The Committee has been asked to inquire and report on:
- the nature of wood supply from Australia’s plantation sector including:
- 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:
- Current and future demand for logs for domestic processors; and
- 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.
“Growing up in a timber town I have an in-depth understanding of how important this industry is and I look forward to being a valuable member of the committee,” Mr Pasin said.
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