More funding for Tasmanian forestry peace dealFriday 24 May 2013  The Commonwealth Government will provide an additional AU$94.5 million over five years to help implement the Tasmanian Forestry Agreement. The additional money comes from funds redirected out of the billion-dollar Biodiversity Fund, as well as the Caring for Our Country program's environment stream.The Commonwealth's funding includes AU$60 million over the three years from July last year, in "structural adjustment" payments. These will go to sawmillers and haulage and harvest contractors who exit the native timber industry, as well as government buybacks of wood supply contracts and to support nature-based tourism. Other funding includes: an Innovation and Investment Fund for the Tasmanian plantation timber industry (funding of AU$15.8 million over three years beginning in July 2013) to help the industry transition to a greater reliance on plantation resources, AU$8 million over the next three years to complete a study underway looking at "appropriate ongoing solutions" for the use of timber residues, or waste products and AU$2 million per year, starting in 2014-15, to assist in the ongoing management of the new forest reserves created by the Agreement. |
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