I n c o r p o r a t i n g A U S T R A L A S I A N F O R E S T L O G G E R & S AW M I L L E R JUNE 2015 • P: (03) 9888 4834 • www.timberbiz.com.au
Forester wins Scholarship
Don’t bury the problem
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Biovision edger retrofits page 34
It’s time to get RET decision right A
USTRALIAN SOLAR Timbers (AST), which has led Australia in utilising solar technology to dry hardwoods and produce fine quality timber floors, has called on the Australian Parliament to restore common sense and reinstate native forest wood waste in the Renewable Energy Target. “At AST, in Kempsey, we were poised to innovate again with an Australian designed 10 megawatt co-generative power plant that could supply the entire Macleay Valley with renewable electricity, as well as produce bio char for use as a sustainable agricultural soil enhancer. Regrettably in 2011 the politics of the hung Parliament derailed us, and indeed other similar regional projects designed
to reduce carbon emissions sustainably,” AST Chairman, Dr Douglas Head said. “Despite the unanimous findings of a 2011 Parliamentary Inquiry, set up and Chaired by Labor, the Greens/ Labor Government decided to remove native forestry operations wood waste from the Renewable Energy system,” he said “This action damaged Australian innovators, my workers and was an affront to common sense. “We had been in an advanced stage at that point but we took it off the agenda,” he said, and added that if all was restored then it would put AST back to where that type of thinking was possible again. Dr Head claimed the 2011 change
n Dr Douglas Head
“was never a renewable decision ... it actually made the situation worse. It was an anti-forestry Trojan Horse scenario where
Call for more plantations THE AUSTRALIAN Forests Products Association’s (AFPA) call to increase the number of trees planted for harvesting has been reinforced by new polling, which has found overwhelming public support for the Federal and State Governments to advance the growth of plantations across Australia. A ReachTEL poll of the four Tasmanian Federal seats of Bass, Braddon, Franklin and Lyons showed an average of 72% of voters agree that the Federal Government should do more to encourage the expansion of plantations. By electorate, the results were; Bass - 78.4%, Braddon- 69.5%,
Lyons - 72.6%, and Franklin- 67.4%. Chief Executive Officer of AFPA, Ross Hampton said, “AFPA has been saying for some time now that the National and State Governments need to develop a ‘get well plan’ for the Plantations 2020 Vision; the nationally agreed plan which set a target of 3 million hectares of sustainably managed plantations by 2020. We reached 2.1 million hectares, but sadly we are now going backwards due to continuing commercial pressures to not replant some areas.” “Sustainably harvested and replanted forests and plantations are a natural way of continued on page 4
IN THIS EDITION What does the Bio Future hold for Australia? Australian Forests & Timber News has sought the views of those who know the industry well, who have had success in the field, who understand the nuances of promoting change (public and political). In this instance we have concentrated on the timber and forestry waste. Our special roundtable coverage is must-read material and it opens the door for your comments, too. Our coverage starts on page 10
they were just moving the antiforestry agenda into another piece of political legislation because of the hung continued on page 4