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A Plan for the Future of Australia’s Forests

Australia’s forests are one of our nation’s greatest assets. They clean our air and water, produce timber for our homes, and provide jobs for regional Australians.

But the way we look after our forests – and how we make use of them to support jobs and supply materials for the construction industry - needs to change. 

There are two problems we need to fix. 

The first is restoring the dire state of Australia’s native forests, where endangered species are threatened with extinction, damage from pests and fire are increasing everyday, and logging for low value products still ex1ists. The second is increasing the value we derive from our existing plantation sector so we can create thousands of long term regional jobs making the products we need.  

Governments have failed for decades to address these problems. But with a new approach and the right plan, these problems can be fixed, with big win-win benefits for our regional economies and Australia’s environment.

Protecting and Restoring Public Native Forests

By investing in industry development and increasing the value of our commercial plantation sector we can also protect our public native forests from logging, invasive pests and support long term secure jobs taking care of our bush.

Invasive weeds and feral animals are damaging our forests. Iconic forest wildlife like Koalas and Gliders are on the endangered list, and their numbers are dropping. And we know there’s much more we can do to reduce the threat of out-of-control fires risking lives and harming our wildlife.

There’s a clear solution here – more Australians working in the bush. Removing weeds and ferals pests, conducting hazard reduction burns in the right places, and giving our endangered species a helping hand. These investments cost money, but fortunately there is a new source of funding for our forests from carbon credits– if governments make the right choice. In Australia and around the world demand is growing for high quality carbon credits, sourced from projects that restore and protect forests. Simply protecting and restoring our forests can generate billions of dollars in income from carbon credits – money that can be reinvested to support good stable jobs working to fix our forests.

Plantation Industry Jobs

There are millions of hectares of purpose grown timber plantations in regional Australia. Around 90% of the timber we desperately need for new housing comes from purpose grown pine plantations5. And the demand for ‘engineered wood products’ – plantation grown timber sawn and glued in smart ways to create strong, attractive products – is growing rapidly.

But right now, new plantations are not being established and eucalypt plantations are overwhelmingly being grown to be woodchipped rather than turned into high value products. This means regional Australians are missing out on good jobs despite governments heavily subsidising the industry with Australian taxpayer dollars. Governments have failed to plan ahead or support value adding, creating uncertainty for investors, and fewer stable jobs for regional Australians.

Like a lot of industries, Australia has the know-how and the raw materials, but other countries are getting ahead of us making these new products. Our plantation timber could be helping the housing crisis by supplying more materials to build fast, high quality modular housing in factories, and being used to manufacture new products for consumers looking for sustainable options. There’s a new future for the timber industry that can be made – and grown – in Australia, but it won’t happen without a plan for our forests and their future.

5. Analysis of ABARES, FAOSTAT, Forest and Wood Product Association data averages over FY18-22

If we get a real plan from government to back regional jobs, protect our forests, and invest in looking after the bush, our forests and the people looking after them will have a great future.

The last time our National Forestry Policy was updated in 1992 Paul Keating was Prime Minister and the median house price in Sydney was $220,000. Australia has changed a lot in those last thirty years – and the problems in our forests have accelerated.

Failed policies and decades of neglect have put our forests and the industries they support on the edge of a crisis. The challenge will get away from us unless we act now.

In 2023, the Australian Government committed to a new National Forest Policy Statement to recognise the carbon and biodiversity values of our native forests and to create a long term national strategy for the timber industry. 

Recognising the problems is a start, but we need to see a real, practical plan, and real, practical action.

Australia’s forest policy must fix the problems in our forests and meet the needs of our regional communities, workers, home builders, and the millions of Australians who want to see our environment looked after. We need a plan to: 

  1. Back investment in purpose grown plantations that create the right products to build our homes and deliver the timber we need.
  2. Invest in manufacturing new products, like modular housing, particleboard and plywood products, in factories that provide secure jobs for regional Australians.
  3. Reform and strengthen national environment laws to protect the critical habitat of forest dependent threatened species.
  4. Massively increase the resources provided to protect, restore and manage native forests including using money from carbon and biodiversity credits to pay for people to protect and restore our forests – removing weeds and feral animals, doing hazard reduction burns in the places that matter, and replanting and regenerating our forests.