ABC rural Tasmania
Forest industry nears point of last resort
By Anna Vidot
Tuesday, 11/05/2010
As many as half of Tasmania's forest contractors may be forced to leave the industry before the state's forestry crisis is resolved.
Industry has long regarded exit grants, which help contractors walk away from their forestry businesses, as a last resort.
Today, the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania acknowledged the point of last resort is all but here.
"If we haven't [reached it yet], we're certainly on the cusp of reaching that point," says the Association's chief executive, Terry Edwards.
But Mr Edwards says there are still a number of other options that need to be seriously considered by the industry as a whole.
These include helping forestry contractors and their families to move interstate where there is still work to be had.
"There are sectors of the [forestry] industry in Australia that aren't experiencing significant downturn and we are now seeing some of the plantation estates grown in the Green Triangle of South Australia and Victoria, and in Western Australia, now maturing and approaching harvesting age.
"There will be a need, we believe, for some harvesting expertise to be brought into those areas," he says.
"They're possibilities; if they can't happen quickly they may not be realistic possibilities, but I think it's well worth exploring those before we turn our minds to the very last resort which may well be an exit packages strategy."
Mr Edwards says up to half of Tasmania's contractors could be forced out of the industry, which will significantly affect the industry's capacity to cope with increased demand once the downturn is over.
He is hopeful equipment of departing contractors can be bought by those who remain, so they can boost their own capacity to deal with demand in the longer-term.
In this report: Terry Edwards, chief executive of the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania
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