Forestry Tasmania is logging native forests at a massive loss, according to the GBE’s annual report released today.
Despite the Liberals promise to end the handouts to Forestry Tasmania and put it on a ‘sustainable footing’, the GBE is hemorrhaging money.
Forestry Tasmania’s annual report shows that revenue from the sale of forests products has declined by 30% on the previous year, reaching its lowest point since the Liberals were elected in 2014.
This is despite total wood production volumes remaining virtually identical.
In 2016, the Forestry Tasmania Board wrote to the Premier and Minister Barnett about the sustainability (or lack thereof) of the GBE.
In this letter, it was noted uncommercial contracts were a significant issue. The letter also recommended that in five years’ time, contract renegotiation should increase pricing.
It is now five years later, and FT is going backwards.
The Minister needs to tell Tasmanians whether or not the Government has negotiated contract on commercial terms, or has again embedded public subsidies in its contracts with industry who get access to native forest timber for far less than it costs Forestry Tasmania to grow, manage and harvest.
