Inquiry into the Australian Forestry Industry

I am pleased to offer a submission to the inquiry into the current and future prospects of the Australian forestry industry. Opportunities for and constraints upon production: Timber is the most greenhouse-friendly building product, and is a renewable resource that has been managed for decades in Australia, and for hundreds of years elsewhere. Although production forestry is arguably the most benign of all our land uses, it is one the most heavily regulated. Rather than offering innovative incentives, Australia tends to rely on restrictive legislation and regulation, which often focus on processes rather than outcomes. It is my view that better outcomes could be gained more efficiently with less legislation and more incentives. In addition to bureaucratic obstacles, forestry is hampered by skills shortages at all levels of expertise, from equipment operators to professional forest managers, and to forest and timber researchers. Plantation forestry is also hampered by the long interval between planting and harvesting which is unattractive to many investors unless suitable incentives are offered. Opportunities for diversification, value adding and product innovation: Globally, as populations and living standards increase, the world will need more timber and other fores