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ISSUE 323 | June 23, 2014
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NZ contractors rip into independent report on forest operation safety
The NATIONAL ‘Review lacks scientific credibility’ voice for
THE group representing contractors in the New Zealand forestry industry has launched a stinging attack on the work of an independent panel set up to review the sector’s safety record. The Independent Forestry Safety Review panel released a report this month that highlighted what it said were safety problems across the forestry industry, including a lack of mandatory standards, a supply chain that Cont P 4
• Timber Merchants • Suppliers • Manufacturers Forst workers who work in individual crews need to have their voices heard.
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ISSUE 323 | PAGE 1
INDUSTRY NEWS
It’s no, no, no – not yeah, yeah, yeah
Beetle infestation threatens $22bn forest product sector
AUSTRALIAN Beatles fans are this month celebrating the invasion 50 years ago of John, Paul, George and Ringo. A beetle invasion of a different and more devastating kind has been reported this month – arriving in comfort on imported timber pallets and threatening serious economic damage to Australia’s $22 billion forest product industry. The Australian Forest Products Association has expressed concern over the detection of the Asian longhorn beetle, the brown mulberry longhorn beetle and the Japanese sawyer beetle. It is understood that pine wilt nematodes—microscopic parasites that are carried by the beetles and can quickly infect large stands of trees—have also been detected in some of the Japanese sawyer beetles.
Infected pallets distributed to mainland ports
forestworks@forestworks.com.au
www.forestworks.com.au
AFPA CEO Ross Hampton said the beetles and the nematode had the potential to rapidly infect forest plantations and cause serious economic damage to a $22 billion forest products industry. “We have been lucky this time, with the beetles detected through routine quarantine inspections,” Mr Hampton said. “But the industry is greatly concerned at the risk posed by the import of products from
Day tripper .. the Asian long-horned beetle.
places that do not maintain the same very high biosecurity standard as we do in Australia. “While AFPA is pleased that these beetles were detected and is confident the Department of Agriculture will eradicate them this time, we remain concerned about how many have gone through undetected.” Only a very small percentage of imports are inspected each year. It is understood that pallets from this shipment were distributed to all major mainland ports. The ABC reports that Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce believes that they have been able to capture all the pallets but admits that there could be “a few they missed around Adelaide”. Mr Hampton said biosecurity
was of the utmost importance and the primary focus of Australia’s efforts should be on material entering the country that has the potential to destroy an industry and the environment. “This detection and the spread of myrtle rust from 2010, which is now freely found in Australia, highlights the need to tighten the quarantine requirements on imports,” Mr Hampton said. The Asian long-horned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) is native to eastern China, Japan and Korea and gallery development and exit holes weaken the integrity of infested trees and can eventually result in death of severely infested trees. Larvae are considered to be the most dangerous because they tunnel in the cambial region of wood.
Gottstein Trust invites applications THE Joseph William Gottstein Memorial Trust is inviting applications for Gottstein fellowships and industry awards. Appropriate project topics are listed on the Gottstein
PAGE 2 | ISSUE 323
website (www.gottsteintrust. org). Candidates will be selected on the focus of their project, and on their ability to complete and disseminate the information acquired. Candidates will be selected
on the value of the project. Applications for each category will be considered by the trustees and applicants will be selected for interviews in October.
INDUSTRY NEWS
AFPA now enjoys membership along full value chain of sector
US-based forest plantation manager latest recruit as a block to trade for the domestic industry. “It’s about making sure we are all operating on a level playing field.”
By JIM BOWDEN
MEMBERSHIP of the Australian Forest Products Association now covered the full value chain of the sector, the chairman Greg McCormack said in Brisbane. Mr McCormack was moderating a special meeting of AFPA chamber divisions – processing, resource and pulp and paper – and took the opportunity to inspect the EWPAA’s engineered wood testing laboratories at Eagle Farm. Mr McCormack said AFPA has recently welcomed the membership taken out by OneFortyOne Plantations Pty Ltd, which was formed last year by Campbell Global to invest in timberland assets and forestry, plantation and other timber operations in Australia on behalf of clients. “AFPA now has a wide coverage of plantation growers and enjoys solid membership right along the timber production chain,” Mr McCormack said.
Move of power towards centre of government OneFortyOne’s initial investment consists of the cutting rights of the South Australian government’s Green Triangle plantation estate and associated assets. Campbell Global provides management oversight and advisory services and ForestrySA has a contract to manage the SA plantation estate under the direction of OneFortyOne. Campbell Global manages more than 1,254,000 ha across the west and south of the US and in South Australia, representing about $US6.3 billion in assets. The group employs more than 300 people. Mr McCormack said AFPA
Government has recognised need for practicality
Linda’s commitment to industry
The newly-appointed chief executive of OneFortyOne Plantations Linda Swewell (pictured) says the Green Triangle needs to secure a new industry for the region’s pulp timber resource in the next five years. The former Carter Holt Harvey executive and A3P chair says she will strive to drive new market opportunities for the sector. She said the the company would preference domestic contracts over exports and there were no plans to relocate staff to Melbourne. – Border Watch photo.
based in Canberra was a collaborative industry body, reflecting a gradual move of power towards the centre of government, away from the states which had seen a reduction in state-owned forests. Native forests now represented a much smaller market, he said. Increasingly, illegal logging and imports were becoming much bigger issues than they ever were before, Mr McCormack said. “The federal government is still reviewing illegal logging regulations and the process to be implemented and they have taken a sensible approach on this,” he said. “AQIS will be asked to show a fair bit of practicality in the implementation and enforcement of standards. “Other countries have taken decades to get this right. We don’t want to see producers accused of bringing in illegal timber when in fact they have not. “The government has recognised the need for
practicality and that these regulations should not be seen
Mr McCormack said the AFPA had provided a huge number of submissions into government inquiries and investigations. The association had presented at least 12 submissions in the last quarter, and some were 30 to 40-page responses. AFPA is now deep into an inquiry that is looking into a reduction of government red tape.
ISSUE 323 | PAGE 3
INDUSTRY NEWS
GOTTSTEIN TRUST APPLICATIONS FOR 2015 AWARDS
The Joseph William Gottstein Memorial Trust invites applications from interested persons for Gottstein Fellowships and Gottstein Industry Awards. GOTTSTEIN FELLOWSHIPS Fellowships are awarded to people from or associated with Australian forest industries to further their experience, education or training either within or outside Australia by undertaking a project. Appropriate project topics are listed on the Gottstein website (www.gottsteintrust.org). Candidates will be selected on the focus of their project, and on their ability to complete and disseminate the information acquired.
GOTTSTEIN INDUSTRY AWARDS These awards are available to assist workers in the Australian forest industries to improve their industry knowledge and work skills. Applications focusing on small group study tourswill be favourably viewed, although any relevant project topic may be proposed. Candidates will be selected on the value of the project.
INTERVIEWS Applications for each category will be considered by the Trustees and promising applicants will be selected for interviews in October 2014.
FURTHER INFORMATION Further details may be obtained from the Trust’s website at www.gottsteintrust.org, or from the Secretary.
CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS The closing date for applications is 19th September 2014. Applications should be forwarded to: Dr Silvia Pongracic, Secretary, J. W. Gottstein Memorial Trust Fund, Private Bag 10, Clayton South, VIC 3169 Telephone: 0418 764 954 Email: secretary@gottsteintrust.org
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| ISSUE 323
Claims .. forestry far too dangerous.
Under-resourced ‘no way of catching fly-by-night cowboys’
From P 1
doesn’t value safety, and an industry that doesn’t value training. But the Forest Industry Contractors Association said the report lacked credibility and that the panel had been unduly influenced by unions trying to represent more forestry workers. Spokesperson John Stulen has slammed the panel’s work and said it lacked scientific credibility. “We want to make it clear that it’s the workers who work in individual crews who need to have their voices heard – much more now than what the union’s been going on about,” Mr Stulen said. “What’s far more important in health and safety science is that you look at 10,000 near misses and the review panel has missed that opportunity before they put out this document.” Mr Stulen said the big problem was that the government safety inspector WorkSafe NZ was under-resourced and had no way of catching the industry’s fly-bynight cowboys.
Industry has to take a broad sector approach Chair of the Independent Forest Safety Review panel George Adams said he was “gobsmacked” by the criticisms considering the contractors association was heavily involved in its report. And that the problems the report addresses
Simon Bridges .. industry has taken ownership of the issue.
were identified by the industry. “It’s fair to say that clearly fatalities make the headlines, but it’s incorrect to say we’re just looking at the fatalities – we’re actually looking at not just what’s happened but the key is why it’s happened. “And you’ve got to take a broad sector approach to understand the fundamental reasons why things happen. I’m comfortable that we’re actually doing that,” Mr Adams said. Labour Minister Simon Bridges has welcomed the safety review Panel’s public consultation document, saying the industry has taken ownership of the issue. WorkSafe New Zealand statistics showed that between 2008 and 2013, there were 967 reported instances of serious injury related to forestry and logging. In this time 28 workers died in accidents. George Adams said that forestry in New Zealand was far too dangerous. • Industry capable of dealing with rogue operators, Page 8
INDUSTRY NEWS
2014 AROUND THE CIRCUIT
JULY
6-9: NZIF 2014 conference – Napier War Memorial, 48 Marine Parade, Napier. This is the Institute of Forestry’s main event for the year. Forest owners, professionals, managers, consultants and educators will meet to discuss the conference theme, ‘Tackling the Challenges and Delivering Value’. Field trip to Hawkes Bay, New Zealand’s fruit bowl and premium wine region – and 135,000 ha of forest plantations split between a few larger companies and many smaller growers. Email: admin@ nzif.org.nz Web: www.forestry. org.nz
AUGUST 2014 5-6: MobileTECH 2014: Primary Industries Future. Brisbane. 12-13: Auckland, NZ (www.mobiletech2014.com). These events will profile the latest mobile tools, technologies and innovations driving the future of primary industries (farming, horticulture, forestry, dairy, meat, wool, fisheries and mining). MobileTECH 2014 will showcase a wide range of mobile technologies and innovations, including smartphones, tablets, mobile apps, satellite mapping and communications, robotics, aerial drones, remote sensors, electronic tagging, intelligent data, M2M, real-time analytics and cloud-based platforms. 6-9: AWISA 2014 exhibition. Brisbane Convention and exhibition Centre. Displays of panel processing, solid wood and timber machinery, tooling, manufacturing software, plus ancillary products such as dust extraction and materials handling equipment. Opportunity forn the cabinet, kitchen, furniture, joinery, timber, fit-out and panel industries to inspect new equipment. Inquiries about booking space: email info@awisa. com or call Geoff Holland. Tel: (02) 9918 3661. Fax: (02) 9918 7764. Mob: 0412 361 580.
Email: info@awisa.com 7-8: The Australian Forest and Forest Products Sector: Situation in 2014 and Trends Going Forward. DANA conference – Bayview Eden Hotel, Melbourne. Presentations on the tree plantation industry and its trading environment, log production and exports, softwood and hardwood woodchip export trends to major markets and the future outlook; the sawn timber industry – production and direction (including import competition), the potential for wood panel expansion, the domestic pulp and paper sectors and global pulp demand outlook, wood pellet potential; and more. This includes 13 speaker from Australia and 10 high-profile specialists in their fields from overseas – two from China, two from Canada, two from the US and one each from Chile, Finland and New Zealand. Shanghai-based RISI forestry specialist Gavin Hao will provide an extended presentation on North Asian and Indian softwood and woodchip markets, where Australia fits into these markets in 2013 and 2014, and predictions about future demand. Other speakers include Oliver Lansdell, global pulp specialist; Rodrigo Monreal, solid wood products chief of Arauco, Chile; Matthew Wood, CEO Stora Enso Australia; Russ Taylor, president of WOODMarkets; Peter Barynin, lead economist with Boston USA-based RISI; Peter Zed (Australian sawmilling sector); Simon Dories, general manager, Engineered Wood Products Association of Australasia; Ross Hampton, CEO, Forest and Wood Products Australia; Steve Whitley, CEO, Forestry Tasmania. Full registration details, plus the program, speakers, sponsorship and the online registration can be viewed at prcc.com.au / danamelbourne2014 or contact Pamela Richards at email pam@ prcc.com.au
11-12: DANA conference, Rotorua, NZ. The New Zealand forestry and forest products sector: its situation in 2014 and trends going forward. Novotel Rotorua Hotel, Rotorua. Web: www.prcc.com.au/ danamelbourne2014. Conference consultant: Pam Richards 61 3 5781 0069. Email: pam@prcc.com.au
SEPTEMBER 17-18: Wood Innovations 2014: Timber Preservation – Wood Modification – Composite Products – Rotorua, NZ. 23-24: Melbourne. (www.woodinnovations2014. com). Changes in new wood treatment formulations, processes and systems, standards, legislation with the focus also on wood plastic composites and modified wood products. 19-20: ForestTECH 2014. Rotorua, NZ. 25-26: Melbourne. (www.foresttech2014.com). Remote sensing, field Inventory, forest estate planning.
2015 MARCH
25: ForestWorks annual industry conference and dinner in Canberra. Flagship event for the forest, wood, paper and timber products industries. Joining with the Australian Forest Products Association to co-host the popular networking industry dinner at Parliament House. Conference will look beyond the innovative technologies in industry and focus on the people, exploring how they can help to bring about innovation. Further details will be announced in the coming months, including the conference theme, speakers and venue. Contact forestworks@ forestworks.com.au
THE AUSTRALIAN FOREST PRODUCTS ASSOCIATION The lead voice in Canberra on policy affecting forest, wood and paper products industries. AFPA strives to deliver benefits for the complete industry value chain including those involved in: • Forest growing • Harvest and haulage • Sawmilling and other wood processing • Pulp and paper processing • Forest product exporting
Join us today and share the benefits Call (02) 6285 3833
ISSUE 323 | PAGE 5
EVENTS
NZ foresters tackle challenges at key Hawke’s Bay conference Award, field tours feature of Napier event in July
FORESTRY professionals will gather at Napier in ‘sunny Hawkes Bay’ early in July to attend the NZ Institute of Forestry’s annual conference – ‘Tackling Challenges and Delivering Value’. “The conference will focus on a number of Hawkes Bay’s challenges,” says committee chair Bob Pocknall. “However, it will have a national perspective and examine ways to deliver value despite changing times.” Key speakers include the Associate Minister of Primary Industries Jo Goodhew; Labour Party forestry spokesperson Chris Hipkins; chairman of the Hawkes Bay Regional Council Fenton Wilson; and managing director Pan Pac Forest Products Ltd Doug Ducker. Pan Pac is a Japanese owned, fully integrated forestry and timber products company, located in the Hawkes Bay region and has the management of cutting rights to more than 30,000 ha of plantation forests in at five forest locations. More than 220,000 tonnes of thermo-mechanical wood pulp is produced annually and shipped to Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, where Oji Paper has a
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| ISSUE 323
‘Sunny Hawkes Bay .. region will host the NZ Institute of Forestry’s annual conference.
The conference will cover operating within the law, a health and safety and environmental perspective; Hawkes Bay land use challenges (steep land forestry); shaping a better industry: trends in safety, culture, productivity; harvest volumes and logistics (up-scale of activity and infrastructure development); markets: economics, the China trade, carbon; value of forests’ – forest description, tree genetics, supply chain and high end wood products.
Field trips will showcase forest development
Jo Goodhew
Chris Hipkins
large paper manufacturing plant. Chip exports through the Port of Napier provide wood fibre for Oji Paper’s kraft pulp and paper operations in Japan. During the conference awards dinner the forestry profession will recognise its achievers including new fellows, Forester of the Year and the Kirk Horn
Doug Ducker
Award (the highest honour available). Additionally, the NZIF Foundation awards several scholarships. The conference is of interest to the broad forestry sector including forest owners, forest and land managers, regulators, marketers, technicians, and support services.
Two planned field trips will showcase some of the excellent examples of innovative forestry development within Hawkes Bay. The region has 135,000 ha of plantation resource split between a few larger companies and many smaller growers. Within the Hawkes Bay forestry sector there is a range of enterprises including forest properties on most land types, forest processing plants (including a large scale sawmill and pulp mill complex), and Cont P 7
INDUSTRY NEWS
ABP regains FSC certification Condition: koala spotters among the bluegums
AUSTRALIA’S largest producer of woodchips has been reinstated into the Forestry Stewardship Council after it was suspended by the Rainforest Alliance in October last year over koala deaths. The FSC ban on Australian Bluegum Plantations came following a string of graphic reports into the company’s lax protections for koalas during harvesting and forced the company to cease some operations in southwest plantations spanning from Yambuk to South Australia. The company has agreed to a costly demand to employ koala
Wild life recovery program part of field trip itinerary
spotters during harvesting and will leave a minimum of nine trees around koalas found in its bluegum plantations. The trees can be removed if the koalas move on. Wildlife carer Tracey Wilson, who led calls for change over the past three years, welcomed the changes saying ABP now had the best standards of any operator. She said the nine-tree minimum was an enormous improvement over a minimum of five trees under protection plans of other green triangle operators.
Other measures introduced by ABP include an improved koala protection plan with input from government environment departments and wildlife carers; consultation with a zoologist to
identify koala densities in the green triangle; and an employed koala project officer. Rainforest Alliance has used the case to talk up the effectiveness of the FSC, the industry’s self-regulating body. “Forestry is an industry full of risks. It is as impossible to say no koalas will be killed on plantations as it is to say no forest worker will be injured on plantations,” alliance spokeswoman Anita Neville said. “How the industry works to minimise the risk of harm is critical.”
Wood Protection
From P 6
infrastructure support networks servicing the industry. An additional field trip option will showcase the Cape Sanctuary to see a magnificent wildlife recovery program where Kiwi, Takahe, Tuatara, Pateke and many forest species, reptiles and seabirds are being restored to abundance in a productive landscape of pines, sheep and golf courses on Cape Kidnappers.
Awards dinner will recognise achievers This is the Institute of Forestry’s main event for the year. It will be at the Napier War Memorial, 48 Marine Parade, Napier, from July 6 to 9. Details at www.nzif.org.nz or email admin@nzif.org.nz Contact Bob Pocknall, conference organising committee Chairman on (021) 914 362. Email: bob.pocknall@ pfolsen.com
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Contact the Australian Lonza team for full details of the Lonza value package. Phone:1300 650 636
ISSUE 323 | PAGE 7
HEALTH AND SAFETY
NZ forest industry capable of dealing with rogue operators
‘Hardest thing for us to stomach is some of these idiots running around saying we’re sending people to their death’ FORESTRY operations in the Bay of Plenty region have faced 60 health and safety enforcement actions in the past 10 months, says WorkSafe New Zealand. The industry is the country’s most dangerous, with 28 fatalities since 2008. WorkSafe issued 60 enforcement notices since August last year to local operators, which can include written warnings, improvement notices, infringement notices and prohibition notices. Enforcement action can be taken for safety failings such as a written warning for a tree-feller operating without an available radio for communications, or a
had enough processes in place to deal with rogue operators at present, and he was not sure how the safety review consultation could add to that. “I don’t know whether anybody in the public sector is qualified to make those calls,” he said.
‘The process at the moment is going quite well’ Work in the forest .. vigilant about health and safety.
prohibition notice for an unsafe digger. Bay of Plenty’s enforcement actions included three prohibition notices for problems
Robert Reid .. safety crisis ha been unfolding in the forestry industry.
such as a damaged guy rope, and a damaged cab on a vehicle. The figures follow the release this month of the Independent Forestry Safety Review panel’s public consultation document highlighting industry health and safety concerns.
Problems are driven by multiple factors
info@forestry.org.au | www.forestry.org.au PAGE 8
| ISSUE 323
Wood Marketing Services co-owner Darren Robinson, based in Tauranga, said the Waikato-Bay of Plenty firm had been vigilant about health and safety. The forestry industry
“I think the process at the moment is going quite well. The WorkSafe guys had made some strong and diligent inroads into what was going on.” However, Mr Robinson said he would have liked to have seen WorkSafe take a proactive rather than reactive approach during the past few years. His firm knew all its work crews personally. “Our crews, they’re all personal friends of ours, we’ve had them on our books for a long time, we know them and their wives and their families,” Mr Robinson said. “We’re not removed from these guys, we know them extremely well.” Mr Robinson was sick of hearing generalisations that forest companies did not do enough for their workers’ safety. “The hardest thing for us to stomach is some of these idiots running around saying we’re sending people to their death,” he said. Almost 300 WorkSafe NZ enforcement actions had been taken nationwide since last August, including 25 partial or full shutdowns due to “imminent danger of serious injury or death”. – Bay of Plenty Times.
INDUSTRY NEWS
New online calculator provides BAL ratings for builders, architects Design guide from WoodSolutions
THE Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) of a building site is determined by using Australian standard AS3959. The BAL rating has implications for both the design of a building and the specification of materials. A new BAL calculator developed by WoodSolutions is based on information provided in AS3959 and gives home owners, architects, building designers, developers and others a convenient way of estimating the BAL without having to manually look up tables. A calculator gives a quick BAL rating and then shows how changing variables – such as the building location on the site – affects the BAL.
New funding model for investment The Bushfire Attack Level of any location on a building site depends on factors including the site slope, the distance from vegetation and the type of vegetation. Australian standard AS3959 provides information and methodology to calculate the BAL of a home and specifies the construction and/ or retrofitting requirements. Variables such as the site slope can be entered accurately, not to the nearest 5 deg., and then changed so that you can immediately see the effect on the BAL.
Timber & Forestry e-news is the most authoritative and quickest deliverer of news and special features to the forest and forest products industries in Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region. Weekly distribution is over 16000 copies, delivered every Monday. Advertising rates are the most competitive of any industry magazine in the region. Timber&Forestry e-news hits your target market – every week, every Monday! Boris Iskra .. calculator a preliminary design guide.
“The BAL calculator will enable home builders, architects and designers to see how different placements or orientations of a home on a site can change the BAL,” FWPA national manager codes and standards Boris Iskra said. However, Mr Iskra pointed out that the WoodSolutions BAL calculator, while shown to be very accurate in testing, should be used as a preliminary design guide with final BAL calculations confirmed with the Australian standard. The WoodSolutions BAL calculator is available online at: woodsolutions.com.au / Articles / Resources/BALBushfire-Calculator-V1 Further information is available from the website www.woodsolutions.com.au which has timber species data, technical design guides and other free downloads created to inform architects, engineers and other design and building professionals.
HEAD OFFICE Correspondence to Custom Publishing Group PO Box 569 Ormeau QLD 4208 Phone +61 7 5547 6547 PUBLISHER Dennis Macready Phone +61 7 5547 6547 dennis@industrye-news.com
MANAGING EDITOR Editorial correspondence to Jim Bowden PO Box 330 Hamilton Central QLD 4007 Mobile 0401 312 087 cancon@bigpond.net.au ADVERTISING Phone Jim +61 7 3266 1429 Phone Dennis +61 7 5547 6547 dennis@industrye-news.com
US demand for wood-plastic grows US demand for wood-plastic composite and plastic lumber is expected to increase more than 10% annually to $US8.4 billion in 2018, creating a market for nearly four billion pounds of plastic.
A rebound in new housing completions from the low 2013 level and gains in residential improvement and repair expenditures will generate increases in demand.
Opinions expressed on Timber & Forestry e news are not necessarily the opinions of the editor, publisher or staff. We do not accept responsibility for any damage resulting from inaccuracies in editorial or advertising. The Publisher is therefore indemnified against all actions, suits, claims or damages resulting from content on this e news. Content cannot be reproduced without the prior consent of the Publisher - Custom Publishing Group.
ISSUE 323 | PAGE 9
PASSAGES
Many mourn loss of Kerrie Guest much-loved ‘daughter of industry’
Born into pioneering sawmilling family at Gosford KERRIE Guest, a third generation member of a pioneering NSW sawmilling family, died at Gosford last Tuesday evening, aged 67, after a long illness. The family business Walker Bros was established in 1933 when brothers David and Alex Walker purchased Tom White’s sawmill at Ourimbah Creek on the NSW Central Coast, about 78 km, north of Sydney. Mrs Guest was CEO of the company and one of four women, all descendants of the founders, involved in the directorship of Walker Bros, based at North Gosford. She was the granddaughter of Alex Walker and has been associated with the business since birth.
Kerrie Guest .. much loved and respected director of Walker Bros at Gosford.
Kerrie Guest had a powerful influence on the NSW forest products industry and was loved and respected throughout the wider industry nationally. She was a strong supporter of industry organisations and played a key role in the growth
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and development of TABMA Australia, based in Sydney. She was also a fountain of knowledge about the state’s timber industry and in particular the history of Walker Bros. In the early years of the company’s establishment, her father Alex operated the stream-driven sawmill while his brother David fed the mill with logs brought to the mill by his bullock team. Times were tough in the heart of the Great Depression and the mill was moved closer to the source of logs in Mangrove Creek. Dave and Alex moved their families into Gosford and camped during the week. By the late 1930s tractors and trucks had changed the need for the mill to be sited in the forest so the land was acquired in North Gosford nearer to the railway and employees. Electricity arrived in town just in time so the steam boiler gave way to modern technology and in 1939 the business was established on its current site In 1946, Peter Walker joined his father in the mill, to be followed by his brother Brian whose primary love was the forest side of the enterprise. During the next decade the business thrived with the local area and expanded into imported timbers.
Dave Walker retired in 1961 and ownership of the business passed to the next generation of Alex’s family. In 1969, the partnership structure changed to a private company – now P. & B. Walker Bros Pty Ltd – with Peter Walker as managing director. This structure has endured even though suffering from the lows of losing the founding father Alex in 1981 and Brian in 1991. Another blow came in 1995 when a massive fire swept through all the storage sheds, destroying almost all of the mobile fleet and machining capabilities. The staff banded together closing for only one trading day and with great help from our local community and suppliers the mill was rebuilt over the next 12 months.
One of four women directors Peter retained an active interest in the business up until his death in July 2009. The family tradition has continued – Keith Sparrow, operations manager, is the third member of his family to work in the business. His father commenced as a driver in 1951, his brother John was the manager during the 1970s. The Sparrow family has amassed a huge 100 years’ service to the company. Frank Pemberton served an outstanding 55 years during which time his brother Alf and their sons also contributed. Kerrie Guest is survived by her husband Richard and three children, all girls, and six grandchildren. A service will be held at the Palmdale Memorial Park at Palmdale, a suburb surrounded by the Qurimbah state forest.
ENGINEERED WOOD
Framing the future: new trends
‘Gaining height and removing the risks’ STATISTCS just released by the ABS imply strong demographic demand for multi-residential housing as Australia’s population reaches 23.32 million by the end of this year. This adds around 396,000 people in the year during 2014, equivalent to a growth rate of 1.7% over the period. The challenges and changes in off-site modular house construction and the continuing preferences for multi-residential inner-city living will be examined at a timber framing seminar in Brisbane on Thursday this week.
Modular house challenge for timber framing With the theme ‘gaining height and removing risk’, the seminar will address the
Challenge for timber framing .. modular, panelised kit homes.
challenges facing the softwood framing industry as the development of modular home systems increases. The sector is under pressure for change, so the seminar will spark thought about what the future holds over the next five, 10 or 15 years. The ‘big box’ supply stores are now offering flat-pack
panelised home building kits imported from China which suggests consumers can drive out with a set of instructions and erect their own home! What does this mean for softwood framing down the track? More than 200 builders, designers, architects and fabricators are already booked for the seminar, organised by
Timber Queensland at Moda Events, Portside, Hamilton. It’s described as a ‘must attend’ event for those who design, specify, install or inspect timber framing for residential or commercial buildings. Industry leaders will outline updated regulatory compliances for framing and explain modern termite treatment systems that remove risk for builders and home owners. The program will explore considerations required when designing framing; the economics of framing options; the benefits of recent BCA amendments that enable timber framing to be used in a wider range of projects; Timber Queensland’s termite policy (costs vs risks); and the shape and applications of timber frames in the future. • See notice, Page 16.
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Engineered Wood Products Association of Australasia Unit 3, 106 Fison Ave West, Eagle Farm 4009 Qld Tel: 61 7 3250 3700 Fax: 61 7 3252 4769 Email: inbox@ewp.asn.au Web: www.ewp.asn.au
ISSUE 323 | PAGE 1 1
INDUSTRY NEWS
$2.7m upgrade at state’s largest hardwood sawmill a jobs booster
Heyfield project rovides alternative to imported products A $2.7 MILLION expansion and upgrade to Victoria’s largest hardwood sawmill, Australian Sustainable Hardwoods at Heyfield, has secured the future of the mill, provided a local alternative to imported products and created 27 new full-time jobs. Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional and Rural Development Peter Ryan joined Member for Gippsland East Tim Bull and Member for Eastern Victoria Region Danny O’Brien in Heyfield to celebrate completion of the value-adding expansion project. Mr Ryan said the expansion was made possible thanks to a $650,000 investment from the Victorian Coalition government’s $1 billion regional Growth fund.
Export potential for range of new timber products He said the project included the purchase and installation of a new horizontal finger joiner, an extension to the current finger joining and laminating facility, the establishment of a hard stand site, and new equipment for the joiner line. “ASH currently produces a range of high quality manufactured timber products, such as window and door frames, door stiles and flooring – products which have traditionally been imported,” Mr Ryan said. “To help ASH successfully compete against imported products, a more efficient and expanded production process was needed. “With efficiencies now achieved, ASH is able to produce timber products locally which have previously been imported, and are in a
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recipient of high-quality logs in Gippsland and the ongoing operations at the Heyfield mill are critical to the viability of our forest industry,” Mr Bull said. “This significant investment not only created 27 full-time jobs and six new indirect jobs, but also secured the jobs of ASH’s existing 190 employees.
Industry security .. Australian Sustainable Hardwoods Heyfield manager Vince Hurley (right) briefs Gippsland East MLA Tim Bull, Victorian Deputy Premier Peter Ryan and Eastern Victoria MLC Danny O’Brien on the mill’s new $2.7 million joinery line. – Gippsland Times photo.
position to begin exporting these products to international markets. “This significant investment has secured the future of ASH in Heyfield and paves the way for further investments at the mill to achieve even greater efficiencies.” ASH has an increased capacity to effectively batch set length orders in both solid and finger jointed boards. Previously, batching set length jobs was performed by hand on the grading line which is both costly and time consuming but also places constraints on space within the dry mill. In one seamless motion, the new process line takes random length Vic Ash under
the GoodWood brand to automatically dock, batch and stack multiple set lengths of solids, fault dock and finger join all the offcuts, then batch and dock those. A great example is to load random length 125 x 50 in the front end and then out the back will come a solid glass door mould for window manufacturers, set length feed stock for dowel producers, stock for internal door jamb sets and finger jointed 108 x 19 flooring. Tim Bull said it was a great day for the employees of ASH and the local timber industry more broadly. “Australian Sustainable Hardwoods is the primary
Accurate .. new process line to process random length Vic Ash at ASH Heyfield mill.
Investment creates 27 new full-time jobs for Gippsland “The investment is also a major win for businesses in Heyfield and surrounding communities who rely on a strong and profitable timber industry both directly and indirectly.” Danny O’Brien said the investment was yet another success story for the Coalition government’s job creating $1 billion regional growth fund. “The Regional Growth Fund is investing in projects right across Gippsland to create jobs, secure investment and boost innovation,” Mr O’Brien said. “Since it was established in 2011, the regional growth fund has delivered more than $400 million, generating well over $1.6 billion of total investment across almost 1500 projects.” Mr O’Brien said this included more than $7 million of investment in the Wellington Shire to support 40 projects and more than $23 million of total leveraged investment. “Here in Heyfield, the regional growth fund has also invested $150,000 to support the $275,000 redevelopment of Apex Park and a further $100,000 to support the $135,000 upgrade of the Heyfield section of the Gippsland Plains Rail Trail.” Mr O’Brien said.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Chile kicks trade goals in Australia Soccer and veneers top of agenda at Sydney talks decorative plywood, cabinet making and furniture panels. Meanwhile, Arauco, headquartered in Santiago, Chile, and one of the largest global producers of composite panels, has resumed plywood operations at its Nueva Aldea industrial forestry complex almost two years after a forest fire destroyed the facility.
ENJOYING the sweet taste of Chile´s World Cup victories in Brazil plus the success of an inaugural trade visit to Melbourne and Sydney were in the mix at a debriefing meeting in Sydney last week. Laminas Chile general manager Leonardo Zamorano expressed his view that Australia is a country of immense opportunity for his company’s decorative laminate and veneer products.
Specialises in decorative veneers “I am looking forward to building long-term relationships with laminates and veneers specialist companies in Australia and with the Australian Timber Importers Federation,” he said.
Chile trade talks in Sydney .. John Halkett, general manager, ATIF, Nicolas Birrel, trade adviser, ProChile, Silvana Gatting, trade commissioner, ProChile, and Leonardo Zamorano, general manager, Laminas Veneers, Chile.
ATIF general manager John Halkett provided some advice about veneers and presspanel companies in Australia and possible interest in the company’s products. “Laminas Chile is an innovative, relatively new
company in Chile’s timber industry export juggernaut,” Mr Halkett said. In particular, Laminas Chile specialises in the production of decorative laminates and veneers to meet the need of the market in doors, chipboard,
Arauco back into plywood production Auraco invested about $US190 million in the rebuild with an expected annual production capacity of 350,000 cub m. The company says products will be targeted for export, with annual sales projected at $US100 million.
Genuine wilderness should be respected AREA included in the 2013 extension to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage area clearly don’t meet the definition of pristine wilderness, according to Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture Senator Richard Colbeck. The 2003 Tasmanian State of the Environment report ranks the state’s land in terms of its wilderness values and reveals the most valuable wilderness was encapsulated by the TWWHA before it was extended. The wilderness values were defined using the methodology established by the National Wilderness Inventory (Lesslie & Maslen 1995). “The property is now creeping outside that area and into areas that are clearly not pristine wilderness,” Senator Colbeck said.
The Coalition’s submission for a minor boundary modification will restore the balance and return dignity to the property by removing areas that don’t meet the definition of wilderness. “The Greens continue to deceive the Tasmanian, Australian and global community by claiming the extension has ‘outstanding’ wilderness values and that 60 and 70 year-old regrowth are ‘old growth’ forests,” the senator said. “The truth is these areas have been sustainably harvested and regenerated over many years.” The fact that areas like this are now included in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area makes a mockery of the Labor/Green nomination to extend the area in 2013.
Being a TABMA member gives you: • Group buying discounts • Assistance with the placement of trainees & apprentices • CoC certification advice • Industry specific staff recruitment at competitive rates • National networking opportunities • An exclusive trade credit insurance plan • Technical advice and assistance • Industrial relations advice • WH&S audits • Annual Timber Industry Dinner Call 1800 822 621 for membership enquiries ISSUE 323 | PAGE 1 3
OPINION
Greens have done their utmost to destroy the timber industry ‘Their objective was simple: to impose so crippling a compliance burden on importers as to make foreign sourcing prohibitive’
“IN the game of the round ball,” Jean-Paul Sartre ruefully observed, “everything is complicated by the presence of the opposing team.” So too, alas, in politics. But as in soccer, there are own goals as well: and the government is set to score one with its regulations on illegal timber imports. Unless it changes course, the credibility of its commitment to deregulation will be severely damaged. In the period leading up to the 2007 election, the Greens, having done their utmost to destroy the Australian timber industry, turned their sights on imports. Their objective was simple: to impose so crippling a compliance burden on importers as to make foreign sourcing prohibitive. Since the result would be to foreclose import competition, the Greens won the support of beleaguered domestic producers and of the unions.
No more than 10% of timber imports are at risk Like the proverbial lunch, feeding this unholy coalition of victims and tormentors would hardly be free: but the bill would be paid by consumers, in the form of higher prices, and by the importers the restrictions would finish off. Even in those happy days, when Tony Burke and Joe Ludwig controlled the fate of the nation’s environment, selling such a pig of a policy required more than the usual slip, slap, slop of lipstick. So a regulation impact statement was prepared, with the department responsible commissioning
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Extracts of a report in The Australian by HENRY ERGAS* modelling from the Centre for International Economics. To its credit, the CIE found that the costs of the government’s proposals were up to 10 times greater than the benefits. That assessment was unsurprising: although no more than 10% of Australia’s timber imports are at risk of being illegally logged, the legislation would increase prices for all timber products (whether imported or domestically produced) by 3% or more. Nor would it reduce illegal logging overseas: illegal timber would simply be diverted to other markets. As a result, while Australian consumers would be substantially worse off, few environmental gains, if any, would be achieved. However, ministers of Burke’s and Ludwig’s calibre were unlikely to be troubled by such peccadillos. An alternative analysis was therefore hastily prepared; by tossing in “intangible” benefits whose substance was never specified, that analysis dragged the policy just over the line. To call the revised assessment tripe would be unfair: after all, the humble offal nourishes millions, and for many gourmets is a culinary delight. But whatever its failings, the RIS recognised that not all the policy’s consequences
had been brought to account. In particular, with “no details available” about how the policy would be implemented, “it is not possible to provide any meaningful estimation of likely compliance costs”. This was, in other words, a policy that had not been properly evaluated. No wonder the then opposition tore it to shreds. Paul Fletcher, the Liberal member for Bradfield, delivered a devastating critique, highlighting its “disturbingly draconian” and “badly thought through” provisions that threatened importers with up to five years’ imprisonment even if their contravention had been unintentional. Those provisions would give rise to “enormous uncertainty” that even Greenpeace had complained about. The legislation, Fletcher concluded, was “a very troubling case of the full apparatus of state coercive power being applied in a way which could very easily trap people who have made an innocent mistake”. The Coalition therefore voted against the legislation, with Labor accusing it of thereby taking “relentless negativity to a new low”. But, as Augustine said, “no one is so well known to himself
that he can be sure as to his conduct on the morrow”. And were proof needed that two years are a lot of morrows, Richard Colbeck, the Abbott government’s Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, has now endorsed regulations and guidelines which greatly aggravate the legislation’s effects. Adding insult to injury, those instruments have not been subject to a RIS. Colbeck claims further review is unnecessary, as a RIS had been issued for the original legislation. But as that RIS could not realistically assess compliance costs, Colbeck’s assertion that it was “comprehensive” is simply inaccurate.
Costs for a small importer could rise by 7 to 8% Nor are those compliance costs trivial. On an admittedly rough estimate, a small importer’s costs would rise by 7 to 8%, so that the policy, considered as a whole, would reduce Australia’s wellbeing by $12 for every $1 it yielded in benefits. And the picture is not much rosier using the most conservative assumptions possible about compliance costs: in that event, costs still outweigh benefits by a factor of five to one. That its supporters want to shield the policy from the scrutiny the government’s own regulation review policy mandates is therefore easily understood. * Henry Ergas is a regulatory economist who has worked at the OECD Australian Trade Practices Commission (now the ACCC), and the Australian Centre of Regulatory Economics (ACORE) Advisory Group.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Shake-up changes face of AFCA
Board directors step up to work on restructure INDIVIDUAL board directors have stepped forward to provide the skills and experience required to direct the future of a restructured Australian Forest Contractors Association. “Renewed industry confidence, an uplift in the demand for forest services and growing complexity in the issues facing the sector means the association must change and re-focus its national direction, AFCA chairman Ian Reid said from Morwell, Vic.
Members represent all sectors “Our aim is to deliver a growing service requirement without growing the association’s cost structure and to do that we will be calling on unpaid directors to supplement the work carried out by our paid staff,” Mr Reid said.
“They will take on specific national portfolios while keeping and eye on local issues affecting their states.” Colin McCulloch has agreed to step aside as CEO to allow AFCA to move to the next phase and undertake a major review of its operational structure. Mr McCulloch was founding president and a director of AFCA before being chair or CEO for the past 12 years. He took the decision to step aside to allow the board full scope in its restructuring. He says he is “going back into the bush”, and has been appointed HR manager for the Kevin Morgan Group. The AFCA was established in 2002 to look after the interests of the harvesting and haulage contractors within the timber industry across Australia. In recent times, the association has been undergoing renewal with members drawn from a variety of industry backgrounds
Colin McCulloch .. going back to the bush.
representing all sectors of the industry as well as having representation from all states and territories. “We’re sorry to see Colin go, even though we are sure he will be working closely on projects or issues in the future,” Ian Reid said. “The AFCA board will meet in a few weeks to prepare an interim restructure – and select the right people for the right
job.” Mr Reid, who has just returned from an inspection of forest machinery and forest harvesting operations in Finland, said the forest service sector in Australia was kicking along. “We’ve been busy and have just finished fire salvage for Hancock Plantations in 2000 ha burnt last summer in the Gippsland,” he said. Mr Reid operates Austimber Harvesting and Haulage in the La Trobe Valley. He inspected John Deere’s factory in Finland which builds wheeled harvesters and cut-to-length machines and forwarders. “We have used John Deere equipment over the last couple of years and wanted to see how the machines were put together and how they operated in northern Europe. “It’s a long way there and back, but it’s good to look and logging operations in different parts of the world.”
House finance easing, but residential recovery on track BASED on the latest housing finance data, the recovery in residential building is set to continue but at a more sustainable rate. Master Builders Australia chief economist Peter Jones says said despite the flat headline figure for
the number of owner occupied housing finance commitments in April, builders will be encouraged to see that overall, finance commitments underpinning the upturn in residential building activity are holding up. “While the number of
commitments for construction or purchase of new dwellings fell in April, there has been solid growth over the year,” Mr Jones nsaid. “Commitments for construction of dwellings fell in April, but are up 15% over the year.
“Investors remain a key driver of the upturn in residential building activity, with the value of commitments for investment housing continuing to power ahead, up by 2.3% in April to be 30% higher than a year ago.
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ISSUE 323 | PAGE 1 5
Things are TIMBER FRAMING: GAINING HEIGHT & REMOVING RISK p u g lookin for timber framing
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CLASSIFIEDS
POSITIONS VACANT
Non-executive directors (2)
Forest and Wood Products Australia Limited (FWPA) is seeking to appoint at least two non-executive directors to its skills-based Board. At least one of the appointees is required to be independent of the industry and must not be a director or employee of an FWPA voting member. Candidates with strong skills in the area of best practice corporate governance, marketing or market development would be highly regarded. FWPA is an unlisted public company (limited by guarantee) that provides national, integrated promotion, research and development services for the Australian forest and wood products industry. FWPA is committed to helping the industry be collaborative, innovative, sustainable and competitive. Company members are wood processors, forest growers, and importers of wood products. As a rural research and development corporation, the Company also receives matching funds from the Commonwealth government for its R&D activities. Information about FWPA and the process for appointing Directors is set out in FWPA’s Constitution, available from the company’s website at www.fwpa.com.au/ An independent Director Selection Committee established under the Company’s Constitution will consider proposals for candidates, and recommend to the FWPA Board persons for nomination for appointment as a Director. The Committee is required to ensure that candidates will result in a balanced, skills-based Board. All candidates must provide a covering letter and resume and clearly identify their ability to meet one or more of the requisite skills and experience nominated in FWPA’s Constitution (clause 13.14). Applications will only be received by email and should be sent to the Secretary, Director Selection Committee: rob.lockwood@fwpa.com.au Please note the closing date for applications is Friday 11th July, 2014
Contact Timber & Forestry Enews Tel: +61 3262 3001 cancon@bigpond.net.au
ISSUE 323 | PAGE 1 7
297x210mm Vertical 254x93mm Horizontal 125x190mm Vertical 125x93mm Horizontal 73x190mm Horizontal 73x190mm Vertical 140x44.5mm 110 Vertical 34x44.5mm
297x210mm Vertical 254x93mm Horizontal 125x190mm Vertical 125x93mm Horizontal 51x93mm
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