Contentious Tasmanian forestry bill closeFriday 26 May 2017 As Treasurer Peter Gutwein prepared to hand down the 2017-18 state budget on Thursday, the Hodgman government’s forest legislation was examined in the Legislative Council. On the eve of budget day, Legislative Councillors gave their second reading speeches regarding the polarising bill, which would open up about 356,000 hectares of Tasmanian forest to logging. The session went late into the night, eventually passing the second reading and progressing to the committee stage.The Tasmanian Forest Agreement, brokered by the former Labor-Green government, sought to reconcile the forest industry with conservationists, securing continued wood supply while also identifying and protecting areas of high conservation value. It’s proposed to unlock some of these high conservation value forests – otherwise known as future potential production forest land – to provide further timber to industry. The government says this is to ensure Forestry Tasmania receives its yearly quota of 137,000 cubic metres of high-quality sawlogs. The industry, though, is divided over the bill. Questions have, too, been raised over the bill’s potential impact on Forestry Tasmania’s bid for Forest Stewardship Council certification, which would allow it to access more timber markets. The bill will continue at the committee stage when the upper house resumes. Source: The Advocate |
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