Tasmanian forestry industry urges Abbott Government to honour peace deal

Updated

The Abbott Government is under pressure from the forestry industry to reverse its election promise to scrap the Tasmanian forestry peace deal.

Two of the biggest and most influential players have told 7.30 it has allowed them to expand and create jobs for the first time in years.

The deal, known as the Tasmanian Forests Agreement, was signed in late 2012 and is an attempt to end decades of division and conflict between loggers and environmentalists that crippled the industry.

In return for protecting half-a-million hectares of forest, some green groups agreed to end all protests and support the forestry industry.

Neville Smith Timbers makes timber flooring and is one of the major beneficiaries of the deal.

In a complete turnaround it is struggling to keep up with demand, with orders twice that of production levels.

"The Tasmanian Forestry Agreement really has allowed us to re-think what we're doing within our businesses and engender confidence with our customers," executive chairman James Neville Smith said.

"I'm an eternal optimist and have no doubt that where we're heading there's a bright future."

That positive outlook is shared by the Malaysian-owned veneer manufacturer Ta Ann.

The Tasmanian Forestry Agreement really has allowed us to re-think what we're doing within our businesses and engender confidence with our customers. James Neville Smith, Neville Smith Timbers

Without the peace deal the company would have left Tasmania because it was losing customers as a result of pressure exerted by environmentalists.

"I don't think we'd be operating the business, frankly," executive director Evan Rolley said.

"The Forest Agreement provided the basis on which we could go back in the market, hold the small amount of market that was still there for us.

"As conditions are improving, it will take two to three years to build again to be in a strong financial position."

The company received $26 million in compensation in return for forfeiting 40 per cent of its wood supply.

Now its former Japanese customers have started to talk to them again and Ta Ann is building a new plywood mill and will begin employing staff early next year.

"It's better to have 60 per cent of a volume that you can sell product in market than to have a 100 per cent and not be able to sell that product," Mr Rolley said.

"So a judgement, a business judgement essentially, is made that that reduction and the compensation to offset the impact was a way forward."

Industry association fears return to environmental strife

They are not alone in making that business judgement.

Terry Edwards from the Forest Industries Association has written to the Prime Minister calling on him to back away from his pledge to scrap the deal and allow logging in recently protected areas of world heritage forest.

The Abbott Government is currently in talks with the World Heritage Committee to de-list sections of Tasmanian forest, but environmental groups have warned that will result in a return to mass-scale protests.

The forestry industry is watching on with grave concern.

"If this thing is a five-minute deal ... then I'd be very disappointed," Mr Neville Smith said.

"We can generate more economic development and more economic stimulus doing more with less than what we will do if we go back to the conflict and the instability that will inevitably create."

Evan Rolley believes the Coalition could change its position.

"I don't take a view that the agreement will be scrapped," he said.

"I'm a glass-half-full person. I'm incredibly optimistic that good sense will always prevail."

But so far the Abbott Government is refusing to back down.

Agreement has cost thousands of jobs, claims senator

Senior Government Minister and Tasmanian Senator Eric Abetz has hit back at the industry, accusing it of naked self-interest.

He blames the deal for causing hundreds, if not thousands of job losses in Tasmania, which has the highest unemployment rate in the country.

"Individual members of the forest industry might be satisfied with being given money and being paid out from creating the jobs and the wealth, but I feel sorry for the workers who have lost their jobs, for the communities that will now become ghost towns," he said.

Some high-profile environmentalists like former Greens leader Bob Brown and the Huon Valley Environment Centre have not supported the deal and there have been some small anti-forestry protests.

"We've had demonstrations against Ta Ann, we have had anti-forestry demonstrations despite the so-called peace deal, so the promise of peace was an empty promise," Senator Abetz said.

Tasmania had the biggest swing in the country to the Liberal Party in the federal election and the party is hoping for the same result at the state election in March.

Senator Abetz argues that gives the Abbott Government a mandate for scrapping the deal.

"We are under huge pressure from the people of Tasmania to honour our election promise," he said.

"Some organisations have done well, and of course they will continue to champion the deal, but the people of Tasmania voted on this deal loud and clear."

Topics: business-economics-and-finance, industry, environment, forests, rural, forestry, government-and-politics, federal-government, local-government, australia, tas

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