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A 20 per cent drop in employment equates to 900 regional jobs in sawmilling,
timber cutting, haulage and the public forestry service, plus a potential
2600 jobs lost in downstream industries such as pulp and paper processing,
furniture making and wood products manufacturing.
Some regions may suffer more than others, however.
In East Gippsland, for instance, sawmills are the lifeblood of many small and isolated towns, and fewer alternatives exist. The February 5 document is being circulated to departmental offices with copies earmarked for politicians in affected areas. It includes a letter to federal Forestry Minister Wilson Tuckey appealing for more money for industry restructuring and exit packages.
The Commonwealth and state are already spending $42.6 million on restructuring under Victoria's five regional forest agreements, the last two of which were signed in March last year by Premier Steve Bracks and Prime Minister John Howard.
The 20-year agreements were signed despite evidence from consultants engaged by the Commonwealth that the state's logging records were in disarray, without a proper auditing system to test the accuracy of timber estimates. The consultants were called in after a Wombat Forest Society analysis revealed massive overcutting in the Wombat forest over many years. But on the strength of the official estimates, which were signed off in the forest agreements, the industry has invested billions of dollars in new plant and value-adding equipment.
In the briefing paper, the department admits it got it wrong. It says advanced mapping in recent months for the Statewide Forest Resource Inventory reveals the extent of the problem. It recommends volumes be reduced before sawmill licences are renewed. Most mills have 15-year licences that begin expiring next year.
A spokeswoman for Conservation and Environment Minister Sherryl Garbutt said the government was not aware of the document, and it had no authority. "We haven't seen the communication, so we don't know what status it has at all," she said. Ms Garbutt said in an earlier statement that the government had begun the process of renewing sawmill licences. She said licensed volumes would be reduced in some regions as foreshadowed in the regional forest agreements.
Conservation and community groups continue to campaign against the legitimacy of the agreements, saying they paid lip service to environmental protection and the development of alternative forest industries such as eco-tourism.
In Western Australia, a campaign against that state's forest agreement
was one of the key issues that led to the defeat of the Liberal Government
at the recent election. The WA Labor Party changed its policy on retaining
old-growth forests after an outcry against government logging plans.
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