ABARES report like a script from a horror movie, plantation estate staggers backwards

OPINION EDITORIAL: Originally published in Timber & Forestry E-News The latest five yearly review by ABARES of Australia’s national plantation estate is more than sobering reading. It’s like the script of a horror film. The bureaucratic speak in the report, notes unemotionally that Australia’s softwood plantation estate (the pine trees that we use to make our […]

Forest industries have the potential to deliver a win, win, win in climate fight

OPINION EDITORIAL: Originally published in Timber & Forestry E-News Forestry must be a part of Australia’s Net Zero 2050 plan. In the lead up to international climate talks in Glasgow there is considerable debate about how Australia might more greatly contribute to the global fight against climate change. A crackdown on the big emitters is […]

Energy from burning forest waste is green

OPINION EDITORIAL: Originally published in The Mercury. Anyone who works or walks in Tasmanian bush knows there are two certainties: it will grow and some will burn in bushfires. Biomass power uses this renewable growth and, potentially, also has a part to play in making communities safer by thinning out the heavy undergrowth near towns and […]

Balancing forests, jobs

OPINION EDITORIAL: Originally published in The Age. Of the 125 million hectares of native forests in Australia, only 7.5 million hectares remain available in “multiple use management zones”, which includes forestry (“Take the natural way”, Opinion, 24/7). In any year, harvesting takes place in less than 0.5 per cent of that 7.5 million hectares. We now […]

Innovation key to forestry future

OPINION EDITORIAL: Originally published in The Examiner. We all know that research and innovation is fundamental to the international competitiveness of businesses and industries, not least the forest products industry, which requires large capital investment and long-term market planning. However, in Australia our national forest products industries have experienced a decade of decline in research and […]

Forest funds welcome

OPINION EDITORIAL: Originally published in The Border Watch. Association chief praises research centre commitment We all know that research and innovation is fundamental to the international competitiveness of businesses and industries, not least the forest products industry, which requires large capital investment and long-term market planning. However, in Australia our national forest products industries have experienced in […]

Set down a vision for future of the forestry industry

OPINION EDITORIAL: Originally published in The Northern Daily Reader. Ross Hampton, chief executive officer, Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) writes outlining what he thinks the next federal government needs to do to sustain the forest industry. Federal election 2016 must be about securing Australia’s longer- term future, and for NSW, this means the future of the forest industry. […]

If you care about climate change you will back forestry.

OPINION EDITORIAL: Originally published in The Mercury.   There’s a simple message the scientists advising the climate change talks in Paris would have for those interested in forestry operations in Australia; “If you really care about the climate – back forestry”. That would be the summary of their sentiment anyway. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change […]

It’s time to fight fire with foresters

In the control rooms of rural fire brigades all around Australia, men and women are peering at detailed terrain maps and pondering. They are trying to use science, weather data, experience and simply gut feel, to pick where the bushfires will start this year. Because they know there is no guess work about one thing […]

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