The Hodgman Liberal Government is committed to unlocking Tasmania’s production forests to create jobs in regional Tasmania.
The Hodgman Liberal Government is working to Build Your Future, and we have set a target to double the forest, fine timber and wood fibre industry value-add to $1.2 billion by 2036.
Special species timber is an iconic part of our forest industry with boat builders, furniture makers and other craftspeople turning these special timbers into amazing products, and these industries support jobs in small businesses right across the State.
In July this year the Government released a draft Special Species Management Plan for public consultation. The Government has looked at the feedback received through public consultation and has now finalised the Management Plan. The final plan will be gazetted tomorrow.
Contrary to some of the misleading assertions put forward by the Greens and ENGOs, the plan does not have the power to change the areas of land in which special species timber harvesting can occur.
Under their own Forest Deal the Greens voted for special species timber harvesting to be permitted in every area covered by this plan, so any complaints concerning the area covered is gold-standard hypocrisy from the Greens and the Wilderness Society.
Unfortunately, while the Plan sets out a way forward for the sector, a large proportion of the resource identified will not be able to be accessed in practice until our legislation to unlock production forests and fix up the unworkable application process for special species harvesting is passed.
The Liberal Government is continuing to back the special species sector by seeking a fresh mandate from the Tasmanian people for this legislation at the next election.
We are proud to be supporting the iconic special species sector by finalising the management plan and reaffirming our commitment to unlock production forests and simplify the application process for harvesting from the state’s wood bank.
The Management Plan can be viewed here: www.stategrowth.tas.gov.au/specialspeciesmanagementplan